


Parenthood?

by AnnaOnTheMoon



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: The Next Generation (Mirror Universe), Star Trek: The Next Generation Books
Genre: !701 D, 2360s, Angst, F/M, Fluff, Mirror Universe, Parenthood, Unexpected Baby
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 15:43:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 30,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15633726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnaOnTheMoon/pseuds/AnnaOnTheMoon
Summary: Beverly watched as a blue swirl of light appeared on her desk and in its place was a bassinet with a newborn child.  There was a small note in the basket.  'Please look after your son.  I can’t let him grow up in this universe. He won’t survive without me'.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I think I might be obsessed with the Mirror universe concept.
> 
> Thanks to GottaHaveAName for putting up with me/this.
> 
> ***At some point, this fic will have flashbacks to a mirror universe where life is brutal. You have been warned***

 Beverly watched as a blue swirl of light appeared on her desk and in its place was a bassinet with a newborn child.  There was a small note in the basket. _Please look after your son.  I can’t let him grow up in this universe. He won’t survive without me._

Beverly was curious, and before she alerted Security or the Captain, she ran a quick tricorder scan on the child, comparing his DNA to the DNA profiles of the crew. 

_Father: Jean-Luc Picard_

_Mother: Beverly Crusher_

She dropped her tricorder to the floor and the baby began to wail.  Beverly picked up the child – _her_ child – and held it close.  The baby, sensing she was his mother quieted down immediately.  Beverly tapped her comm badge.  “Sickbay to Captain Picard.”

“ _Picard here.  Everything alright, Doctor?  Worf said an intruder alarm went off in Sickbay a few minutes ago.”_

“Yes, we’re fine. But, Jean-Luc.  I think you had better come down to Sickbay.  _Alone_.” 

“Of course, Beverly. I’m on my way.”  Jean-Luc received a puzzled look from Will Riker, but he merely shrugged. “Number One, you have the bridge. If you need me, I’ll apparently be in Sickbay.”

###

When Jean-Luc strode into Beverly’s office, he was surprised to see her giving a baby a bottle.  “I didn’t know we had any pregnant crewmembers right now? Who’s bundle of joy is this?”  Beverly looked up at him and very quietly said, “Ours.”

He blanched. “Ours?  But...we...” 

“I know.”  She passed him the note that was in the basket. “That’s my handwriting, and a DNA scan shows that the baby is in fact ours.”

Jean-Luc’s face went pale as he focussed on two words. ‘This universe.’ _No.  It can’t be....._ he looked at the baby and saw that the child had a tuft of reddish hair that was an exact match to Beverly’s, and the slope of the baby’s nose was a near match for his.  Beverly looked met his eyes. 

“Now.  Do you mind explaining to me how we have a baby when we’ve only been dating for a few months and I know my birth control is up to date? Was he sent back from the future?  Do you think something happens and I send our baby back to an earlier me?  Jean-Luc, talk to me.”

“Uhh...Beverly, I think we should perhaps discuss this in our quarters.”

“Yes, I think so.” She stood and passed the baby to Jean-Luc. “But Beverly...I don’t know how to hold a baby!” 

“You do. You were fine with Wesley when he was a baby.” 

“Yes, but that was...well, twenty years ago.”  Beverly softly smiled at the man she adored. “Just make sure you support his head.”

“So it’s a boy?”  She nodded.  “There wasn’t a name in the basket, but a tricorder scan shows he is only three weeks old, so perhaps we never got around to giving him a name before...whatever was going on.”  Jean-Luc gazed down at the tiny baby as a tear slipped from his eye. “Welcome to the _Enterprise,_ Baby Picard.” 

Beverly’s face softened as he watched Jean-Luc with his...their son. Was she ready to be a mother again?  She and Jean-Luc had only been dating for four months, but she had readily moved into his quarters after Wesley left for the Academy and they had discussed the possibility of getting married and children...but she hadn’t expected it to happen so soon.  She frowned. With a baby that tiny, what he really needed was breast milk, not synthetic milk.  She glanced down at her chest and frowned again.  She would have to do some research later to see if it would be possible to force lactation without removing her birth control.  She picked up the bassinet.  “Come on, Jean-Luc, let’s take our son home.” 

They received curious stares as they made their ways through the corridors.  Some people thought perhaps the Captain and Doctor had adopted a baby as they knew Beverly hadn’t been pregnant.  A few even speculated that the child was actually Wesley’s and he had somehow sent the child to his mother to be raised.  And still others wondered who the child belonged to. 

When they reached their quarters, Beverly tapped her comm badge.  “Crusher to O’Brien” 

_“O’Brien here.”_

“Chief, I need you to beam a crib from the nursery to the Captain’s quarters.” 

“ _Sir?”_

“Just do it.  I’ll explain later.” 

 _“Right away, Sir.”_   Minutes later, a transporter beam deposited a crib in the centre of the room.  Beverly took the child from Jean-Luc.  “Can you put that in our bedroom?  At least, for now?  I’ll try to get him to sleep and then I think we had better have a talk....” 

Jean-Luc nodded and pushed the crib into their bedroom, grimacing.  He knew where the baby was from, and who it belonged to.  And Bevely...Beverly was not going to be happy with him when she found out.

###

They sat on the sofa with cups of tea after Beverly had refused a glass of wine, stating that she would have to induce lactation before they went to bed and she didn’t want any alcohol in her system.  He raised his eyebrows at her but nodded, figuring she would tell him about it later..if she was still speaking to him.  He took a sip and then reached for her hands.

“Beverly...this child...yes, he’s my child.  But he’s not _yours_...”

“Jean-Luc, I did the DNA scan. Half his DNA is from me. And you’re not going to tell me you slept with someone else nine months ago who happened to have my DNA....are you?”

“Err... Do you remember when we had that incident with what we’ve been referring to as a mirror universe?”  She nodded. “Where everyone was basically an evil copy of themselves?” 

“Yes.  Do you remember when I told you that you, well, that universe’s Beverly, was the Captain’s Woman?”  She nodded. “When I returned to my – his – quarters that evening, she was in my bed. Well, his bed.  We argued, and I told her she should sleep somewhere else.  She went through an adjoining door into what she called her side and then I felt badly and wanted to explain things to her...”

“And you slept with me? Her?”  He nodded.

“I see.  Tell me everything.”

###

_Jean-Luc watched the door slide shut behind Beverly and sighed.  This Beverly...she wasn’t his Beverly, but she was still Beverly.  He couldn’t hurt her.  He needed to talk to her...but would she talk to him?  He rose and walked to the adjoining door and knocked.  To his surprise, the door slid open and Beverly was on the other side.  She pulled him into her quarters and the door shut behind him._

_“What? Come to twist another knife in me?”  She glared at him.  “No, I came to get my blanket,” he quipped.  Her eyes softened and she reached out a hand and ran it up his shirt to his chin, which she tilted slightly before leaning in and placing a soft kiss on his lips.  “You know, when you’re not playing the tough Captain, I find I quite like you.”_

_It was too much for him.  Beverly was kissing him.  He kissed her back and grasped her hips, his fingers fisting in the satin of her nightgown.  Beverly pushed open his tunic and it fell to the floor and she worked on his waistband, shoving both tight trousers and pants down in one go.  He continued to kiss her as he slowly pulled her nightgown off over her head and tossed it to one side.  He gazed at her in awe.  He had never seen his Beverly naked before.  Wearing a tiny bikini once or twice, but never naked.  He wanted to reach out and touch her, but she bent over and unzipped his boots and lifted his legs one by one to pull off his boots and when she stood, he kicked his trousers free._

_He palmed her breasts and she moaned, running her hands across his back and lightly scratching.  He nipped at her throat and she slowly walked him back to her bed.  When they fell on the bed, they continued to kiss and explore each other’s bodies.  Beverly caressed his cheek.  “You’re not him, are you?”  Her words were soft, but he still heard them._

_“No.  I’m Jean-Luc Picard from the USS Enterprise.”_

_“The other universe?”  He nodded and she kissed him again.  “Are you and your Beverly....?”_

_He shook his head. “No.  We’re too stubborn to get together.”  She laughed._

_Jean-Luc hovered over her and kissed her again. “Beverly, does he....hurt you?”_

_“Sometimes.  But I think deep down he must love me.  Do you love your Beverly?”_

_“With all my heart.  I loved her since before she married Jack. After Jack died I couldn’t tell her and here we are....”_

_“Yeah, here we are.”  Beverly wrapped her legs around his hips and pulled him close. “I want to know what it’s like to be made love to.  Please? Love me as if I’m her?”_

_“Oh, Beverly.”  He loved her tenderly. He paid extra attention to all of her sensitive areas and waited until she shuddered around him before allowing himself to climax.  He rolled them over and she kissed him desperately. “Thank you.  I....”_

_“Shhhh.”  He pressed a kiss to her temple and drew her into his arms.  “Get some sleep.”_

_As he watched her sleep, he wondered if he could take her away from this universe somehow...but then, how would that look to his Beverly?  What would he say to her? ‘Hey Beverly, Here’s another Beverly and by the way I slept with her because I can’t tell you how I feel’  He shook his head.  It wouldn’t work.  He wondered if she would be mad at him for sleeping with her counterpart.  Should he tell her?  Would there be a reason to tell her?_

###

“I guess I have her to thank, in a way,” Beverly said when he was done.

“Thank?”

“Well, when you came back we started increasing our time together until well...we’re _here_ now.” 

“Indeed.”

“Did you love her?” 

“Beverly....Beverly, how could I not?”  He cupped her cheek gently.  “She was _you_.”  Beverly sighed. “And now we have her baby. Your baby. _My_ baby.” 

“What are we going to do?”  Jean-Luc gazed through the bedroom door where he could just see the edge of the crib.  “Do? Well, we’re going to raise a baby. But why did she send him here to you? To us?”  Beverly grabbed the bassinet and began to examine it, removing the mattress pad and finding a small data chip taped to the underside.  She passed it to Jean-Luc and he turned it over in his hands.  “Do you think this was intended for us?”

“One way to find out.”  He strode over to the console on his desk and inserted the chip and Beverly’s face filled the screen.  “Beverly, I think it’s a message for us.”  She came over and perched on the arm of his desk chair as they watched the harrowed woman on the screen speak.

“ _Jean-Luc.  The baby is yours.  I’ve known it was yours since I found out I was pregnant....Jean-Luc..._ this _Jean-Luc had a vasectomy years ago to prevent him from fathering any children and I haven’t been with anyone else.  Jean-Luc knew I was pregnant with your child and he threatened to kill it....to kill me.  I don’t know why he didn’t force me to abort or try to cause an abortion...I think he wanted to kill the baby in front of me.  I started researching ways to send things between universes after I discovered I was pregnant and it took six months, but I finally cracked it.  This chip contains the only information on sending things between universes....I figure it’s safer with you.  I...I hope you worked things out with your Beverly.  If she’s anything like me...well, I love you, Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise.  I hope you and your Beverly can raise our child as if he was hers.  I don’t think I’ll survive much longer.  I’ve been hiding the baby and I for the past few weeks with Worf’s help, but eventually, I know this Jean-Luc will find me and have me killed.  Or sent to the agony booth, which is just as good as killing.”_ Jean-Luc shuddered, and Beverly rubbed his back before returning their attention to the screen. _“I’m sending the baby into what I hope is your Beverly’s office.  Beverly...wow, it feels weird talking to myself.  Beverly...I’m sorry.  I’m sorry I slept with your Jean-Luc...no, I’m not sorry.  My night with him was...well, if you’re not sleeping with him and finding out, I think you should start.  I haven’t given the baby a name,  I want you to name him.  You’re his mother now.  Please, take good care of my baby.  Goodbye.”_ The image faded and Beverly had tears streaming down her face.  Jean-Luc pulled her into his lap and kissed her. “I’m sorry, my love. I’m so so sorry.” 

“Shh, don’t be.  But that woman... _me_....I looked so....” she frowned. “It was _really_ bad over there, wasn’t it?”  Jean-Luc smoothed her hair down and kissed her temple. “Yes.  It was...cutthroat.  Did I tell you everything that Beverly told me?”  She shook her head. 

“The me in that universe...had Jack killed.”  Beverly gasped and covered her mouth. “I know. That’s how...evil...that man is.  I wouldn’t put it past him to have already killed Beverly.  I know he was looking for a way to kill Wesley.  But, I _did_ think he cared just a little bit for Beverly.  At least, that was the impression I got.” 

“Do you think we can contact her somehow to find out if she’s ok?  I mean...she might want to know her son arrived safely?”  Jean-Luc shrugged. “She said she sent the instructions.  We can have Data and Geordi look over it and see if it’s possible.  With Geordi’s knowledge of their ship’s computer, maybe we can direct a message to Worf in case Picard killed her. If she’s still alive, he can pass the message to her.  What should we say?”

“Keep it simple.  ‘package arrived safe.’”  He chuckled. “Package?  Are you calling our son a package?” 

“No, but we don’t want the message being understood by that version of you, do we?”

“True.”  He kissed her again. “You’re taking this all pretty well.  I have to say, I’m quite relieved.”  She smiled and slid off his lap to grab one of her PADDs.  “Jean-Luc....sooner or later, we probably would have had a baby together.  This just....pushed it up a bit.”  He raised his eyebrows.

“I would have hoped we were married first.” 

“So old fashioned.” 

“Hmm.”  He studied her as she tapped away at her PADD.  “What are you doing?”

“Well..the baby...which, by the way, needs a name, needs to be fed. The best thing for him is milk from his mother’s breast.  At least, at this young age.” 

“But his mother isn’t here.” 

“ _She’s_ not.  But she’s also me.  If I can induce lactation, I can feed him from my own breasts.”  Jean-Luc looked at her with awe. “You would do that?”  She nodded.  Jean-Luc tugged her back towards him and nuzzled her neck. “Thank you. So...what can we expect?”

“Well, first I’m going to have to remove my implant.”  Jean-Luc’s eyes went wide. “So...we could get pregnant and have two babies?” 

“I suppose that’s a possibility...or you could just learn how to control yourself.  Breastfeeding can help prevent pregnancy, but it’s not one hundred percent...” 

“Beverly,  I’m not going to want to stop making love to you.”  She grinned. “Well, then, _Papa_ , we’ll just have to hope lactation acts as a preventative.” 

“ _Papa_.  I’m a Papa....”  Jean-Luc wavered on his feet and Beverly pushed him back into a chair.  “You are.” 

“Wow.”  He reached for her hands again. “I’m sorry we haven’t done this conventionally...”

“I’m not! This way I didn’t have to go through pregnancy!”  She grinned.  “Will you be alright here with the baby while I go to Sickbay and remove my implant and get the hyposprays sorted?” 

“What if he wakes up?” 

“Uhm....Pick him up?  Until I get back, use newborn supplement 34J from the replicator.  And you should be able to replicate a nappy.  You remember how to change _those_ , right?” 

“It’s been a while, but I remember changing Wesley’s diapers.” 

“Oh my God, Wesley.  Jean-Luc, we have to call Wesley.  I have to arrange for maternity leave...you need to decide if you’re taking paternity leave...we have so much to do! Most couples have nine months to figure all this out!” 

“Hey, now who has to calm down?”  She smiled. “Sorry.” 

“Now go. The sooner you get everything you need from Sickbay, the less time I’m alone with our son.”  Beverly nodded.  “And when I get back, we need to think of a name for him. We can’t just keep calling him ‘our son’ or ‘the baby’.” 

The door to their quarters slid shut behind Beverly and Jean-Luc leaned back in his chair.  _A  son.  I have a son._

###

_Beverly Crusher pushed some of her hair behind her ear and glanced at the bassinet next to her.  “We’ll get you to your Daddy soon, little one.”  The baby cooed at her and tears sprung to her eyes.  She had been hiding in various places on the vast ship for the past four months with the only person knowing where she was was Lieutenant Worf, who was helping her by beaming her around the ship and beaming in supplies.  She had given birth a few weeks ago in an unused auxiliary sickbay, and   she was currently living in a small closet on one of the unused decks with just enough room for a small cot for her, the bassinet for the baby, a replicator for food and supplies,  a toilet and sink, and a computer console._

_Worf shimmered into view. “Doctor.”   She sighed. “I told you, call me Beverly.  I doubt I’m still the chief surgeon. What’s going on outside?”_

_“The Captain has set out an APB on you to the news network.  He thinks you have managed to escape the ship and took the child with you. He is having you charged with kidnapping.”  Beverly frowned.  “Kidnapping?  He’s_ my _son!”_

_Worf shook his head. “And the other Picard...the one who was here from the other place.  This is his son?”_

_“Yes.  Just as soon as I tweak this, we’re going to send him through to Jean-Luc and his Beverly.  It’s the only way,” her voice broke then as her eyes filled with tears, “It’s the only way to keep him safe.  The Captain can kill me, as long as I know my son is safe with his father.”_

_“You are truly a warrior woman.” Beverly nodded and wiped her tears away.  “I don’t feel like a warrior.”  Beverly picked up her son and kissed him. “I love you.  Be good for your father and his....well, your mother.  She’s not me, but she_ is _me.  You’re too young to understand but....I love you.”  Beverly tucked a small data chip under the mattress pad and laid her son back down in the basket.  She covered him with a small blanket and then placed her short note on top of him. “Godspeed, my son.  Godspeed.”_

###

Beverly carefully extracted her birth control implant from her arm and threw it in the recycler.  She would be lying if she said she wasn’t actually excited about getting to be a mother again, a mother to Jean-Luc’s child, but at the same time, she still had some reservations.  With the baby being from the other universe, she just wasn’t sure what would happen as he grew, given what Geordi had said when the ships were in each universe.  Something about the mass needing to be the same in both places. On the other hand,  people had babies in both universes every day, and she was certain the number wouldn’t always be exactly equal.  It was something else to ask Geordi and Data to look into. 

But before she could ask them,  She and Jean-Luc would have to tell their friends...and Starfleet...about the baby.  She frowned.  If they told Starfleet the truth, they would probably insist on taking the child to have him become a science experiment, and she couldn’t let that happen to her son.  She would just have to somehow fudge the records and make it look like she had been pregnant.  She could pull her old records from when she was pregnant with Wesley and alter a few things and change the dates and then just act as though she had forgotten to transmit the updates to Starfleet.  She pulled up her medical record and started copying it over into a new file.  She worked out stardates based on the baby’s scanned age of three weeks and altered the scan photos from when she was pregnant with Wesley to display the correct dates and to change Jack’s name to Jean-Luc.  It was almost fortuitous that the baby was also a boy. 

She scrolled back in her file and added a line entry four months before the other Beverly would have become pregnant and added that she removed her birth control.  She then flipped to Jean-Luc’s file and added in all the relevant information his file needed, including copies of the now altered scans.  She started to make a file for their son, and she paused.  They hadn’t yet given him a name, but he would still need a file.  She would need to get him weighed now and try to work out a feasible birth weight and other details.  She sent the file to her console in their quarters to amend later. 

She programmed the hormonal supplements she would need into the replicator.  If she accelerated the hormonal therapy, she should be able to lactate within a few weeks. Ideally, she would love to be able to lactate immediately, but it wasn’t exactly safe to accelerate her hormones by that much.  She grimaced at the thought of needing to constantly stimulate her nipples and replicated a breast pump.  She performed her final act before returning to her quarters and backdated a note to Jean-Luc, notifying him she would be going on Maternity leave.  He could send it out with the next packet dump and hopefully no one would notice.  She wasn’t sure what she would do about her working for the past three weeks as her initials were all over Sickbay documents, but she would deal with that when it happened. 

She shouldered her bag, now with extra hormone shots, a breast pump, and several baby items before leaving her office.  In the morning, she would inform Selar she would be acting CMO for the next few months. She could keep the baby with her in her office, but she’d like to get him settled into a routine first.  She waved to the night duty doctor as she left.  _I wonder how it’s going for Jean-Luc?_

###

The baby had started to cry almost as soon as Beverly left.  Jean-Luc gingerly picked him up and held him close to his body. “Shh...shhh baby boy...Papa’s here...Papa’s here...I don’t know if you ever knew the other me, but I’m not him...I promise to always take care of you and protect you. Shhhhh....”  he dropped a kiss onto the boy’s head and smiled as the baby started to settled a bit.  Jean-Luc felt a damp spot, and asked the replicator for a newborn sized changing kit.  It whirled to life and he gently laid the baby down on the floor to change his diaper, all the while talking and singing to the baby.

He picked the child back up and started pacing around the room, singing a French lullaby and the baby fell back asleep.  Jean-Luc didn’t want to put him down, so he gently sat down on the sofa and leaned back into the cushions.  Tears sprung to his eyes as he thought of the other Beverly.  He hoped she could get out.  It wasn’t fair at all.  He kissed the baby’s head again. “Your Maman loved you so much she sent you to me.”  He wondered if he and Beverly would ever tell him about her. There wasn’t much to say.  He had spent one night showing that Beverly what it was like to be loved, and this child was the result. Jean-Luc closed his eyes and soon he was sleeping with the baby against his chest. 

Beverly entered their quarters and smiled when she saw him.  She knew he would be an excellent dad.  She gently took the baby from him and placed him in the crib, then woke Jean-Luc with a kiss.

“Hey.”

“Hi...where’s the baby?”

“I put him in his crib. Jean-Luc, we really need to come up with a name for him. We can’t just keep calling  him baby or son.”

“Hmm. I’ve never thought about naming a child. I never thought I would have one.” 

“We could name him after one of our father’s?” 

“Frank or Maurice?”  Jean-Luc wrinkled his nose.  “No. Too old man sounding.  What about Guillaume?”  Beverly rolled her eyes. “Can anyone even spell or pronounce that who isn’t French? What about Alasdair?” 

“Same problem as Guillaume, I suspect, just Scottish instead of French.”  Beverly frowned. “He needs a name!”

“William?”

“Do you _really_  want to name our son after Will Riker?”  Jean-Luc shook his head. “Point taken.”  He sighed. “Who knew how hard this was?  How did you decide on Wesley’s name?”

“Jack and I fought.  I wanted his middle name to be Jean-Luc.”  Jean-Luc raised his eyebrows. “Really?”

“Yeah.  But Jack said no.  He said it wouldn’t sound right with Crusher.  He wanted Wesley after his grandfather and then I came up with Robert for his middle name.”

“Jacques.”

“What?”

“Why don’t we name our son Jacques?”  Beverly stared at Jean-Luc slack jawed. “You would name our son after my late husband?”  Jean-Luc drew Beverly into his arms. “Well, he _was_ my best friend.  And we wouldn’t be together if it wasn’t for him.” 

“Actually, it was Walker who introduced me to Jack.” 

“Walker Picard?”  Jean-Luc shook his head. “No.” 

“What about Jacques Walker Picard?”  Jean-Luc smiled.  “I like it.  Jacques Walker Picard. Nice.”  Beverly detangled herself from Jean-Luc and headed over to the desk. “Great, I’m going to file his birth certificate with Starfleet.  I, uh...created medical records to make it look like I was pregnant with him and backdated a memo to you informing you of my pending Maternity leave.” 

“Wow, you thought of everything, didn’t you?”  He leaned over and kissed her.  “Thank you.”

“I just didn’t want our son to become a medical experiment if anyone other than our close friends knew where he came from.”  Jean-Luc nodded. He, too, had fears that his child would be taken away from him if certain people at Starfleet knew he had come from another universe.  He remembered what they had wanted to do with Lal, and she had been created here on his ship.  There was no telling what some of the admirals would want to do with a child from an alternate universe who’s DNA matched Starfleet’s highest ranking Captain and Chief Medical Officer.  His face fell. “Beverly, the crew.  We have a crew compliment of over 1400.  How are we going to explain the child to them?” 

“Jean-Luc, I don’t think many of the lower decks would concern themselves with it.  Besides, I could have been concealing my pregnancy with my labcoat.  The last time we went out, I was wearing that big blue jumper of mine, it certainly is big enough to conceal a pregnancy.  And just because we allowed people to know we were dating four months ago, doesn’t mean we hadn’t started our relationship sooner.  I don’t think we have anything to worry about, other than loving little Jacques.”

Jean-Luc drew Beverly into his arms once more.  “And you’re...sure about this? You really want to raise Jac as your son?”  Beverly turned around and kissed Jean-Luc on the lips. “Jean-Luc, he _is_ my son. Our son. Yours and mine.” 

“Have I said thank you to you lately?”

“Hmm, not in five minutes.”  He grinned. “Let me show you my thanks...”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***WARNING*** This chapter takes place in the mirror universe. There is sexual abuse, not strictly consensual sex, and suicidal thoughts.

_Beverly woke to warm arms holding her tightly with a hand on her breast.  She smiled and stirred lightly, making the man in the bed with her mumble and tighten his grip on her. “Beverly,” he breathed out.  She didn’t know if he was calling her name or the other Beverly, but she didn’t care.  She rolled over and kissed him until he opened his eyes.  “Good morning,”  she softly said. “That’s not something I ever expected to say to you.”_

_“Oh? But you sleep in his bed?”_

_“Every night, unless he sends me away.  But he usually is already awake by the time I am.  And the mornings are never good.” He grimaced. “I’m sorry.”_

_“Don’t be.  That’s...life.”  She shifted to straddle him and leaned down to kiss him. “But you’ve given me something wonderful. Thank you.”_

_Jean-Luc gripped her hips as she lowered herself onto him.  “You don’t have to thank me.  I’m only sorry my counterpart doesn’t treat you the way you should be.”_

_“Shh, I don’t want to think about him.”  They made love slowly and gently that morning, Jean-Luc wanting to give Beverly as much tenderness as he possibly could.  When they climaxed, he told her he loved her and it wasn’t a lie.  He_ did _love Beverly.  Just...a different Beverly._

_They were sharing an intimate shower when Beverly spoke about her counterpart.  “When you get back...be with her.  You should,”  her voice faltered, “You should show her the kind of love you just showed me.  I know you love her.”  Jean-Luc did the only thing he could think of, and he kissed her passionately._

_The couple was dressed.  Jean-Luc had his hand gently on her back while they spoke.  “I’m sorry I can’t take you back with us.”_

_“No, I understand.  You have your Beverly back there, you don’t need me.”_

_“I’m sorry. I think the next time you see me, it will be him and I will be gone.”  Beverly pulled his hand away from her back and squeezed it. “I know.  But...maybe we should work out a signal or a code?  Then if it’s_ you _, I’ll know?”_

_“Won’t you know by the way I treat you?”  She nodded, tearfully.  “Yeah.”  Jean-Luc tucked her hair  behind her ear and tilted her chin up.  “Just remember...he does love you.  If I love my Beverly, I know he must love his...even if he doesn’t show it to you.”_

_“Maybe. Or he just wanted something that was someone else’s.”  Jean-Luc shook his head. “Don’t say that.  If it was that simple, he would have dropped you by now.  The fact that he’s been protecting you...Beverly, I think he loves you.”  Jean-Luc gave her a tender kiss.  “I’m sorry, love, I have to...well, I have to go.  I have to prevent him from coming into my universe and destroying it.”_

_“I know.  Jean-Luc? I love you.”_

_“I love you, too.”  He kissed her once more before he strode through the adjoining door back into his own quarters.  He contemplated her words about telling his Beverly how he felt, and he vowed to do it._

_On the other side of the door, Beverly slumped to the floor.  At least if Troi had her way and got her killed, she had this one happy memory to take with her to her grave._

_###_

_Beverly bolted out of Jean-Luc’s bed and ran for the toilet.  He came up behind her. “How are you sick?”_

_“I don’t know.  I must have picked up that bug that was going around.”_

_“Well, take care of it, will you?  I don’t want you sick and unavailable.”  She nodded. “Of course, Jean-Luc.”_

_She scanned herself once she reached her Sickbay and all the colour left her face while at the same time, she softly smiled._ Pregnant.  I’m pregnant.  With Jean-Luc’s baby. _The moment of euphoria left her as she realised she didn’t know how she would tell Jean-Luc.   He had been sterilised years ago because he hadn’t wanted ‘any brats’.  He had tried to order her to sterilise herself, but she had fought against it by citing it could cause a reduction in her sexual drive.  He hadn’t wanted that, so he agreed she wouldn’t. She never bothered with an implant since he was sterilised. It hadn’t even crossed her mind when she had slept with the other Jean-Luc.  What was she going to do?_

_She knew Lieutenant Worf had been sympathetic to her case, and had spoken with the other Jean-Luc, so she paged him to her office.  Her office, fortunately, was free of audio and visual monitors – another concession she had insisted on, citing a need for Patient/Doctor confidentiality.  Jean-Luc had balked at the idea, but relented as long as she continued to file her reports and informed him of anything that would be detrimental to the ship._

_“Doctor, you asked to see me?”  Worf shifted nervously.  It wasn’t always a good thing when the chief surgeon called you into her office.  He knew about some of the experiments the Captain asked her to perform.  So far, she had stayed away from other species, but it was only a matter of time.  She looked up and gave him a soft smile that unnerved him.  This was_ not _typical behaviour._

_“Please, sit.”_

_He sat.  You never wanted to disobey the Captain’s Woman.  She shook her head at his nervous behaviour, but she supposed it was expected.  “Lieutenant Worf...I need to speak with you about something....delicate.”_

_“Sir?”  Beverly strode across her office and shut the door, giving them privacy.  Anyone looking would assume she was performing an experiment or asking him to perform some other duty for her.  “I know you know about the other universe.”  Worf tried to maintain a neutral expression._

_“I...might.”_

_“I know you spoke with the other Jean-Luc.  I did too.  He...well, he was in the Captain’s quarters and I thought he was the Captain. I mean, he_ is _the Captain, but he wasn’t...the Captain.  Sorry, I know I don’t make much sense.”_

_“I understand. It was the Captain from the alternate universe you spoke with.”_

_“Y...es...”  Beverly spoke slowly, for she had done a lot more than speak with him.  She decided to blurt it out. “Worf, I’m pregnant.”_

_The Klingon maintained his stoic expression. “I take it, the child is not this Captain Picard’s?”  She shook her head. “No, he’s been sterilised for years.  The baby belongs to the other universe’s Captain.”_

_“I see.  Why are you telling me this?”  Beverly hedged her bets.  The worst case was Worf was still loyal to the Captain and would tell him of her pregnancy, which she would have to tell him about anyway.  “I need you help.  I might need to....disappear.  I can’t let anything happen to this baby and I need to research if I can send it through to the other universe somehow.  I can’t....well, I can’t possibly raise a baby here.  The Captain..he won’t like this to begin with.  He might decide to kill me...or the baby.  So I need to hide.  Will you help?”  Worf slowly nodded. “There are many places on the ship that the Captain is not likely to access....unused crew quarters, for one.”_

_“No.  I mean, I could stay in them for a little while, but I think that might be too obvious.  No, what I need are a series of hiding places where you can beam in supplies and possibly me. Will you do this for me?”_

_“I will follow your orders, Sir.”_

_“And you won’t reveal my location to the Captain?  Even if he tortures you?”_

_“You have ordered me not to disclose your location. I am bound by my orders.”  She nodded, secure in his loyalty.  “Thank you.  I will contact you when I need you to move me.  You may leave.”_

_Worf strode out of the office, the same stoic expression on his face as always and Beverly sat back in her seat and caressed her stomach, where there wasn’t even a bump to show yet.  “Don’t worry, Baby.  We’ll get you to your Daddy, if it’s the last thing I do.”_

_###_

_Beverly stood in front of the Captain, naked.  He circled her body and rested his hand on her stomach, where she was starting to show a slight bulge. “You’re pregnant.”_

_“Yes.”  She pinched her eyes shut, waiting for the pain.  Instead, a rough hand caressed her bump.  “It’s his, isn’t it? The other me.  You slept with him, didn’t you?”_

_“I thought he was you.” He glared. “A likely story.  And, the child? I suppose you plan on keeping it?”_

_“Yes. It’s too late to abort.”_

_“I will kill this child.  In front of you.  You should not have slept with another man. You should have known he wasn’t me.”  He grabbed her roughly by her hips and pushed her back towards the bed.  “I told you before, you’re mine.”_

_He missed the tears in her eyes as he entered her._

_###_

_Beverly was in her eighth month of pregnancy when she needed to go into hiding.  Jean-Luc had been demanding more and more sex with her, rough sex, and she feared harm for the baby.  For some reason, the sight of her pregnant was turning him on, the complete opposite from how he had acted when she had been pregnant with Wesley.  She wondered if Wesley even cared that she was pregnant and that he would have a sibling.  She hadn’t seen him in months.  She knew he was still alive, but he kept to his own quarters and she never saw him._

_She transferred her research to a PADD.  She had almost figured out how to use a form of string theory to pass an object from one universe to another.  It was far out of her expertise, but she couldn’t trust anyone else to help her.  She knew La Forge would be able to figure this out instantly, as he had worked on the original plan to bring the_ Enterprise _into the other universe.  In fact, she had hacked into his notes and used much of his research to aid her own. She gathered a bag of items she would need in her last month of pregnancy, and contacted Worf.  She gave him her code word and she disappeared out of her office in a shimmer of light, making two hops before she arrived in the auxiliary sickbay on Deck 64._

_Deck 64 hadn’t been used since the disaster at Minforth.  There had been an explosion in one of the labs during their experiments there, and as a result the Captain had evacuated the deck.  The damage was extensive, and would have required several months in dry dock, so the simplest solution was to keep the deck empty._

_She breathed in the musty air.  If she used a portable generator, there wouldn’t even be a drain on the ship’s power.  She powered up the few devices she would need. She would power up one of the biobeds for giving birth, and she would sleep in one of the unpowered beds.  The small office contained a console, and Beverly transferred her files over before settling in.  She tested the replicator, and was pleased to discover it was still capable of dispensing both food and medical supplies._

_###_

_She was relieved her labour and delivery went without a hitch.  Worf was there, in case she needed to have him assist, but for the most part, she was able to give birth on her own and only needed Worf to catch the child.  When Worf placed the child on her chest, she wept.  She wanted to raise the child so badly, but she knew that his father and the other Beverly would give him a better chance.  She_ couldn’t _let this universe’s Jean-Luc Picard_ ever _see him._

_After a few days, Beverly had Worf transfer her and the baby to the small supply closet.  She had seemingly passed small items into the other universe. Nothing major, just unused data chips, a tea cup..things that wouldn’t seem entirely out of place when they were discovered.  She tried the experiment on a mouse, and was pleased to discover it, too, had vanished into the blue swirling mist.  She could only hope it had arrived alive and in one piece._

_###_

Two days after she had successfully sent the child into the other universe, there was banging on the door of her small closet and when the door became unsealed, she was staring into the face of the Captain.  He dragged her out into the corridor. “Thought you could hide, did you?” 

She remained tight lipped. The captain peered into the closet. “Where is it?”

“What?”  He gripped her wrist tightly, sure to leave a bruise. “You know what I’m talking about.  The baby. Where is it?”

Beverly looked at the floor and brought up all her feelings for having to send her child away.  She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “Gone.”  It wasn’t a lie.  He would assume she meant he had died.

“Good.  And the body?” 

“Gone.”

“Good, good.  But don’t think you will remain unpunished for all of this,”  he turned to the security team that he had brought with him. “Take her to my quarters, and keep her under guard.  Under no circumstances is Troi allowed access to her.  I will deal with her on my own.”  Beverly trembled.  She knew if Troi got a hold of her, she would be dead.

_###_

Jean-Luc kept her confined to his quarters for the next two weeks.  He would come in,  demand sexual acts from her, and stride back out, never spending the night with her.  If this was her lot in life, she would rather he just killed her to get it over with.  She took a shower that evening and contemplated using her razor to kill herself, but then decided against it as that really would be a slow and painful death. 

She was drying her hair, wrapped in a dressing gown when the door to the quarters slid open.  She was sure it would either be Jean-Luc or her next guard, who always came in to tell her who was on duty “in case she needed anything”.  Worf strode into the room.  “Tarka has gone off shift.  I am to stand watch now.”  She nodded.  Softer, he said to her the one sentence that brought joy to her heart, “Package delivered successfully.”


	3. Chapter 3

Jean-Luc and Beverly had invited the senior staff to join them for Breakfast in the morning. Everyone assumed they would be announcing their engagement that morning, so none of them were prepared when a small baby started to cry and Beverly hurriedly stood up .  Jean-Luc rose with her and rested his hand on her shoulder.  “I’ll get him. Sit down.”  She smiled and squeezed his hand and Will Riker shook his head in disbelief when his commanding officer walked back into the room cuddling a baby. 

Data, predictably, was the first to speak. “Sir, why are you holding a baby?”

“Data, everyone, Beverly and I would like you to meet Jacques Walker Picard.  Our son.”  Gasps were heard around the table. 

“Son?” Will Riker spoke up.  “So you decided to adopt?  I didn’t know anyone on the ship was due around now. How old is he?” 

“Just under three weeks,” Beverly replied, taking the baby from Jean-Luc and adjusting him into a position to accept the bottle she had procured.  “And no, we didn’t adopt him. He’s _ours_.  Go ahead, Data. I know you have a tricorder.  Scan him.” 

Data shrugged and scanned the baby, then scanned Beverly and Jean-Luc. “It is a match.  This child is a combination of DNA from Doctor Crusher and Captain Picard.”

Will stared incredulously at the couple. “You.. _cloned_ a child?!  You saw what happened when Data created Lal. You of all people, Beverly, know that cloning is outlawed.  How could you?”  Deanna reached out a hand and placed it on Will’s arm, a serene smile on her face. “Will, calm down.”

“I can’t, Deanna. They _broke the law_.  How do we even explain this to Starfleet?  I’m sorry, Sir.  Worf, arrest the Captain and the Doctor.”

“Sir?”  Worf looked between the first officer and the captain, not sure who he should be listening to right now.  “Do it, Lieutenant. That’s an order.” 

“Belay that order, Mister Worf.  Will, please sit down and let us explain.” 

Will glared, but sat down, with his arms folded across his chest. He glanced at Deanna. “How can you be so calm?”

“Because, I can feel the baby’s feelings.  Jacques is...happy.  Content.  He knows he’s in his mother’s arms.”  Will raised his eyebrows. 

“I just don’t understand what’s going on.” 

Jean-Luc brought the rocking chair they had procured closer to the table so Beverly could sit comfortably while she fed Jacques.  Her own milk would still not be in for several weeks, but they had decided to act as though she was feeding him so he would take to her breast easier.  This included ordering special nipples for the bottles that were the exact same shape as Beverly’s.  Jean-Luc grinned to himself as he remembered the fun they had the night before getting the measurements.  Once Beverly was settled, he dropped a kiss onto Jacques’ head and rested his hand on Beverly’s shoulder before speaking.

“You remember our mission...well, about nine months ago?”  There were a few puzzled looks around the table as people tried to recall what mission he was referring to, when Data spoke up.

“Was this when Hwiii was on board?” 

“Yes.” Deanna gasped.  “Is he...”

“Yes.” Will glanced between Jean-Luc and Deanna. “Who? Who is he?” 

“Jacques is the son of Jean-Luc Picard and Beverly Crusher.  _This_ Jean-Luc Picard standing in front of you....but not this Beverly Crusher.” 

“I don’t understand.”

“Will, does the Captain have to spell it out for you?” 

“Uh..yes?”  Deanna sighed and rolled her eyes.  “Captain, would you excuse us for a moment?  May I use your bedroom?” 

“By all means, Counsellor.”  Deanna stood and grabbed Will by the arm and dragged him away.  Beverly couldn’t help but chuckle.  “Does anyone _else_ need this explained to them further?”  Data opened his mouth, but Geordi shot him a look and he quickly closed it. 

“Well, congratulations, Sir, Doctor.” 

“Thank you Geordi. Would you like to hold him?”  Geordi blushed. “It’s been a while since I held my sister’s kids, but...sure.”  Beverly gently placed Jacques into Geordi’s eyes and a grin spread across his face. “How can something so small and innocent have come from such a brutal place?  That’s why he’s here, isn’t he?  Beverly....that Beverly...sent him here so he would be safe.”

“Yes. She left us a message.  Apparently, my counterpart threatened to kill the child.”  Geordi frowned. “And...that Beverly?”  Jean-Luc shook his head. “I don’t know.” 

“At least he’s safe from ever being put in an agony booth.”  Geordi shuddered at the memory of having every inch of his body on fire from the booth. Frankly, if it hadn’t been for the Counsellor, he probably would have died in that universe. 

“Indeed.”  The door to the bedroom slid open.  “Captain, Beverly...I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions.” 

“It’s alright, Number One. You were only doing your job.”  Will glanced down at the child, now resting in Geordi’s arms. “Can I hold him when you’re done?” 

“I’m done now.  I’m sorry, Sir. I need to get back to engineering if that’s alright with you.” 

“Of course, but, before you go,” Jean-Luc passed him a data chip. “I need you to take a look at this with Mister Data.  It contains Beverly...the other Beverly’s...information on how she sent Jacques through to this universe. We’d like to be able to send a message back through to that universe’s Lieutenant Worf just  to let them know the baby got here safely.” 

“Me, Sir?”  Worf looked at the captain with confusion.  “Yes, your counterpart had been helping Beverly.  We don’t know if Beverly is still alive and we felt sending the message to Worf would get it to her if she was still alive.”  Worf nodded. He could easily see himself pledging allegiance to Beverly. 

“And everyone...none of this information leaves this room. As far as anyone is concerned, Beverly and I had a child together and we concealed her pregnancy.”  There was a chorus of “Yes, Sir”s around the table before Data, once again, asked a question.

“Sir, are you and the Doctor going to be married?”  Geordi placed an arm around Data’s shoulder. “Come on Data, let’s look at this data chip and see if we can get a message to the other universe.”  He led Data to the door.

“But, I asked a question.”

“You did...and, I’m taking you away before you insert your foot any further.” 

“I do not understand, Geordi. Insert my foot? Where am I putting it?”  If anyone could see Geordi’s eyes behind his VISOR, they were sure they were rolling.  “Let’s go.”

Jacques started to fuss and Will pressed his ear close to the baby. “What’s that, Jack? You want Auntie Dee to hold you now?”  Beverly rolled her eyes. “Jack?” 

“Isn’t that his name?” 

“No. His name is Jacques.” 

“I stepped in it again, didn’t I?” Deanna took the baby from his arms. “Yes.  Jacques is obviously named after Wesley’s father, Beverly’s _first_ husband.”  She emphasised the word first and threw a smirk over at her friend. 

“Oh! And his second name...from Captain Keel?”  Jean-Luc wrapped an arm around Beverly. “Yes.  They were my best friends before...well, it was many years ago.”  Worf, sensing things were about to get entirely too personal, excused him from the room.  “Sir, Doctor.  Congratulations once more. I am sure he will be a strong warrior with parents like you.” 

“Thank you, Worf.” 

Will clapped his hands when the door shut behind Worf. “Alright, so _are_ you going to get married?” 

“We haven’t decided yet.  But you both should know we have made amendments to our files.  Beverly will be going on maternity leave for as long as she would like, and Number One, I am taking paternity leave for at least the next four weeks.” 

“Will you be staying on the ship?”  Beverly shrugged. “We need to speak with Wesley, and Jean-Luc’s family in France so we might visit them at some point, but we have no intention on permanently leaving the ship” Will nodded. “You know, Command is...”

Jean-Luc held up his hand. “I know.  But we think we covered our tracks well enough so that it only looks like files weren’t transferred with the right data packet.  We backdated a few things to make it look like we were aware from the beginning.  Number One, Will, please.  I’m asking you as your commanding officer and as your friend.  Keep our secret.” 

Will slowly nodded.  “You know, Sir, we could backdate a wedding certificate for you and Beverly.”  Beverly and Jean-Luc exchanged a look and he reached for her hand.  “Yes, thank you.  We...we will let you know what we decide to do.  It might be prudent if Starfleet thinks we were secretly married.  Not that I suspect any issues, but....they had a hard enough time when they found out about you and the Counsellor.” 

Deanna looked up when she heard her title, a look of pure bliss on her face.  “I love babies.  They give off such amazing love and calm.  Except when they need something.  Bev, he’s wet.  Can I change him for you?” 

“Be my guest, Deanna.  We haven’t made a nursery yet, so just use our bed as a changing mat.”  Will watched Deanna carry Jacques into the other room “You know, I think she misses having a baby. When she had Ian...well, you missed it Beverly, but she was happy to be a mother. But,” Will looked down at his feet, “I’m not sure it’s going to be possible.  Pulaski told her the radiation from Ian damaged her.” Beverly frowned. “I saw the notes in Deanna’s file.  Look, I’ll talk to Dee.  See if she’ll let me examine her.  You never know, Will.   I might be able to find a solution for her.” 

“Thank you.  I don’t know if she’ll ever want to have children with me, but I want her to be happy.” 

“One dry baby who wants his Papa.”  Jean-Luc raised his eyes. “How do you know that?” 

“With babies, their base emotions are tied to their parents.  While I can only sense emotions from adults, babies are different.  They...project images of their emotions, if that makes sense, and right now, Jacques is projecting your image.”  Jean-Luc smiled.  “Thank you, Deanna.”  He took the baby from his counsellor and cradled him close.  “I never thought I would have children of our own, but now that he’s here....I can’t imagine a life without him.” 

Deanna smiled.  “We’ll talk later, I’m sure.  I need to get to my appointments and you,” she poked Will in the chest, “you need to get to the Bridge.”

“Well, that’s me told. Will we see you later?”  Jean-Luc nodded. “I’ll be by the ready room at some point to tie up any loose ends and transfer notice of my leave to command.  We backdated Beverly’s notice...I’ll backdate mine too and copy you on it.”  Will nodded. “Bev?”

“Possibly.  I have a few loose ends of my own to tie up in Sickbay.” 

The new family was left alone and Beverly leaned over and kissed Jean-Luc. “Yes.”

“Yes to what?”

“Yes, I’ll marry you.”  Jean-Luc’s eyes bulged out. “Did I...did I ask you?”

“No, but...we talked about it.”  She started unbuttoning her top as she settled into a corner of the sofa with a breast pump.  “Ugh, this is the part I hate.” 

“What are you doing? Not that I’m complaining about you taking off your top, but?” 

“I have to stimulate my nipples every three hours while I’m trying to start the lactation process.  It will simulate having the baby suckling and help the production.”  Jean-Luc wiggled his eyebrows at her. “Happy to help, my love.”  Beverly rolled her eyes.  “Put Jacques down for a nap first.  He’s probably tired from all the excitement of meeting people.” 

“Hmm. Babies sleep a lot, don’t they?”

“Yes, they do. Sometimes, I forget you weren’t around babies much.” Jean-Luc frowned. “Will you tell me...everything I need to know?”  Beverly raised her eyebrows. “Everything? How about I just answer your questions and we’ll both learn as we go? Remember, I haven’t done this in almost twenty years.”

“We should call Wesley.”  Beverly nodded, but Jean-Luc didn’t see her nod as he had already turned to put Jacques back into his crib. “And we should give Jacques a nursery.”

“What do we tell Wes? We can’t tell him the truth over subspace, Starfleet might pick up on it if they ever review our logs.”  Jean-Luc returned to the room. “Ask him to meet us in La Barre this weekend.  I’ll tell Robert and Marie we’re coming.  I’m sure they still have Rene’s old crib we could use for the weekend.”  Beverly nodded. “And do we tell Wesley we got married?” Beverly winced as the pump did its work. Jean-Luc was immediately by her side. “Are you alright, my love?” She waved his hand away. “I’m fine.  It’s just that this pinches.” 

“I’m sorry.”  He frowned. “I wish I could do this for you.”  Beverly grinned. “You know, I _could_ give you hormonal supplements...”  He shook his head. “No.”

 “You’re avoiding my question.”  Jean-Luc reached over for Beverly’s hand. “What question was that, my love?” 

“Do we tell Wesley we are married?”  He gave her hand a squeeze.  “No.”  Her face fell. “Let me finish?” 

“Okay...”

“We file some paperwork and backdate it to make it look like we were married...what do you think?  Six months ago?”  She nodded.  “But, Beverly,  I don’t want to just be married for pretend on paper.  Will you marry me for real?” 

“How will we have a wedding if we’re already married on fake paper?” 

“We’ll make it work.”  He sighed. “I wish Walker was still here. We need a Captain to have performed the ceremony.” 

“So...use Walker.  We can sign his signature, no problem.”  Jean-Luc smiled. “One problem there, love, Walker died three years ago.” 

“So...we say we got married three years ago.”  Jean-Luc pondered Beverly’s suggestion, then shook his head. “We can’t.  We’ve both dated other people in the past three years, and you went off to Starfleet Medical for a year.  That doesn’t look like a very stable marriage, now does it?”  She frowned. “I wish we hadn’t.” 

“Me too. But, we were so stubborn.” 

“Will.”

“No, my name is Jean-Luc,” he grinned.  Beverly leaned over and swatted his arm.  “Cheeky.  I meant, we use Will.  When you were taken by the Borg,  Will was promoted to Captain.  He remained a Captain during your recovery until I was able to clear you for duty.  Will married us then.  We kept it a secret because of the situation with the Borg, or the paperwork got lost when we returned to McKinley for repair..you’ll come up with something. Maybe we didn’t even tell the rest of the senior staff at the time.”  Jean-Luc kissed her. “You.  Are diabolical.  And I love you.”

“I love you, too.”  Jean-Luc glanced down at her breasts, attached to the pump. “Are you done with that?”  She nodded and detached herself from the device.  Jean-Luc leaned over and kissed her breasts before she buttoned her top up and then pressed his comm badge. “Picard to Riker.”

_“Riker here.”_

“Number One, could I see you in my quarters?” 

_“Right away, Sir.”_

Will had been more than happy to backdate a marriage certificate and then buried it in a data packet that actually never reached Starfleet at the time, so it was completely believable it wasn’t noticed by Starfleet.  Will had performed a short ceremony where he just asked them “Do you want to be married?” and after they said yes, he said “I pronounce you husband and wife”.  He presented them with a copy and called Beverly “Mrs Picard” until she told him it was “Doctor”.  Jean-Luc could only grin.  He wondered if Beverly would change her name professionally, but he wasn’t bothered by it either way.   His thoughts strayed again to the other Beverly, and he hoped she was still alright.  He wished there was a way to rescue her somehow and get her out of there, but it would complicate things entirely too much. 

###

Jean-Luc had taken Jacques with him so Beverly could speak with Wesley without Wes hearing the baby in the background.  It wasn’t that she didn’t want to tell him, she was desperate to, but she didn’t want to tell the story anyplace where it could be recorded.  Her son’s face filled the screen and she couldn’t help but smile.

“Wesley!”

_“Hey, Mom.  Where’s the Captain?”_

“In a meeting.  He said he was sorry he’d miss talking to you, but we wanted to call you today.  We’ve decided to go to La Barre to visit Jean-Luc’s family and wondered if you would join us there this weekend?”  Wesley rubbed the back of his neck, a gesture he had obviously picked up from spending so much time around Jean-Luc.  _“Yeah, I guess I can take the weekend off.  Mom, can you send me some credits to pay for my transportation there?”_ Beverly nodded, and made a note to speak with Jean-Luc about their joint finances. Not like she cared about money, but she thought they ought to at least decide to share or keep their money separate.  She reached for a PADD and made a few quick taps.  “Done.  Do you know how to get to the vineyard?”

_“I’m sure I can find out.  I’ll see you on Friday night?  I have class until three.”_

“Alright, Sweetie. We’ll see you then.  I love you.”

 _“Love you too, Mom.  Tell the Captain I’ll see him this weekend.”_ The screen went blank and Beverly sat back in her seat.  This was the first time she had ever kept something from her son and she hated it. But, she knew he would play along with their little deception once he knew the story.  She glanced down at her chest, straining against the zip on her uniform.  She laughed.  _Might need to break out the maternity uniform just for the sake of my breasts.  On the other hand, the jumpsuit will make feeding Jacques easier._ She strode over to the replicator in their bedroom and programmed in a larger bust size for her uniform and quickly changed.  “That’s better.”  Her eyes went wide as she realised they hadn’t faked any replicator records to show her replicating maternity uniforms and then she laughed. Surely, no one would scrutinise things that badly.  Besides,  she could always say she still had her old uniforms from when she had been pregnant with Wesley, which wasn’t a lie. They were in a box in the top of the closet.

She pulled out their suitcases to get them packed for La Barre and wondered if Jean-Luc would be upset with her for packing for him, then shrugged. She glanced at the few items of clothing they had replicated for Jacques and decided she would pick a few things up while they were on Earth or see about getting into her storage unit to pull out some of Wesley’s old things.  She suddenly remembered Jean-Luc telling her his family didn’t have a replicator and she panicked.  She didn’t know how long they would be staying or how much formula she would need to replicate for Jacques to take along.  She also would need to take along her hormonal injections, and the breast pump.  She sat down on the edge of the bed, grabbed her PADD from the bedside table and started making a list.  She had forgotten how much extra stuff you needed when you travelled with a baby.

When Jean-Luc returned with Jacques, it looked like an explosion in their quarters had taken place.  Beverly was supervising two Ensigns as they moved the crib into the other bedroom usually reserved for when Wesley was visiting where there already was a changing table and a small dresser.  “Redecorating, love?”  He passed her the squirming bundle and she smiled down at the baby. “Hello, gorgeous.  Mommy’s making sure you have your own room for when we return from meeting your big brother, uncle, aunt, and cousin.”  She kissed the top of Jacques’ head.  “Don’t I get a kiss too?” 

“Mm, of course you do.”  She leaned over and gave Jean-Luc a quick peck. “More later.”  Jean-Luc dropped his voice to a low whisper and grabbed Beverly’s hips. “You know, _Mrs Picard_ , it’s traditional to have a wedding night to consummate the marriage.”  Beverly winked before carrying Jacques into his bedroom.  “Here we are, Sweetie. Your very own bedroom that Ensigns Targa and Darkken have put together for you.”  The two Ensigns stopped what they were doing to coo over the baby and Ensign Darkken asked if she could hold him.  Darkken was expertly holding the baby when Jean-Luc walked into the room to see what it looked like.  “Ensign Darkken, you look comfortable with a baby.” 

“My brother has four kids, and my sister has three.  I love babies.  What’s his name? Uh...Sir?”  Jean-Luc smiled at the younger woman. “Jacques.”

“He’s beautiful. May I offer my congratulations to you and Doctor Crusher?”   

“Yes, thank you.  Ensign Darkken, when we return from visiting our family and introducing Jacques to his brother, would we be able to ask you to babysit from time to time?”

“Sir, I would be honoured.”  She passed the baby back to Jean-Luc.  “Doctor, I think we’re just about finished in here.  It looks a little sparse, but with your permission I can get you a few things from the replication center?”  Beverly nodded. “Thank you, Aurora.  That would be lovely.  We planned on getting a few of my son’s – that is, my first son’s – things out of storage for Jacques, but he arrived a little earlier than planned.”  Aurora Darkken grinned. “You know, Doctor, I didn’t even know you were expecting.” 

“We kept it quiet.  You understand how it is.” 

“Oh, of course. With you both being command staff...I’m sorry, I overstepped.  I’ll just get out of your hair.  Come on, Derek.   Let’s go.” 

“Thank you again, Aurora.  Derek.” 

When they left,  Jean-Luc laid Jacques back in his crib.  “He arrived early? Is that what you’ve decided?” 

“Well...it explained why we didn’t have a lot of baby items.” 

“I suppose. Now, what can you tell me about the explosion elsewhere in our quarters?”  Beverly grinned. “Packing for our trip.  How long do you think we should go away for?” 

“I don’t know. We’ll have Wesley with us for the weekend. I suppose if you want, we could spend ten days, and see Wesley on both weekends.  Why?”

“We’ll need to replicate formula and keep it cool since you said there isn’t a replicator at your family’s home.”  Jean-Luc nodded in understanding. “Would it be easier if we take a shuttle? Then we would have access to the shuttle’s replicator.  I’m sure if I speak with Robert, he would allow me to park it in one of the unused fields.” 

“Yes, I think that’s a perfect idea.  I also wanted to pick up some baby things and I thought I could go to my storage unit at Starfleet and pull some of Wesley’s old things.” 

“I daresay, Marie probably has Rene’s clothing and toys packed away too.”  Beverly grinned at her husband. “Hmm. We might need the _Enterprise_ to bring back everything.”  He chuckled and pulled her into his arms and kissed her, glancing down at her chest. “Those are new.”  Beverly laughed.

“Don’t you remember?  My breasts get huge when I’m breastfeeding.” 

“I, ah, tried hard not to look at your breasts when you were feeding Wes.”  She smirked.  “I’m sure.  But this is a good sign. It means the hormones are working.  Basically, I need to keep using the hormones and keep stimulating my nipples and once milk comes out into the pump, we’re in business,” she frowned a bit. “Though I do feel like a cow with the breast pump.” 


	4. Chapter 4

When Jean-Luc entered his quarters after taking a load of their things to the yacht, he smiled.   All was quiet.   He glanced into the new nursery and saw Jacques was fast asleep and the room had a few more items in it, no doubt brought over by Ensign Darkken.  Jean-Luc paused in the doorway to the bedroom and a slow smile spread across his face.  His wife -  he thrilled at finally getting to call Beverly his wife – was laying face down on the bed, shirtless, and fast asleep. 

He sat down next to her and leaned down to kiss her shoulders.  He replaced his lips with his fingers and gently rubbed.  She moaned and opened her eyes.  “Mmm, don’t stop.” 

“Are you alright, my love?” 

“I forgot how heavy my breasts got when I was pregnant with Wes and how much it hurt when they started to stretch.  I have a hypospray for the pain...somewhere.”

“Do you want me to look for it?” 

“No...just keep rubbing, please?  I think the pain is more noticeable since I’m trying to accelerate things for Jacques.”  Jean-Luc resumed rubbing Beverly’s back and had her gently roll over onto her back.  He winced when he saw her breasts – her nipples had bruises from running the breast pump and there were angry stretch marks on the sides. He leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss on each breast. “I’m sorry, Bev. Are you absolutely sure you want to do this? You don’t have to. Jacques can be formula fed.”  Beverly shook her head. “I’m his mother. And I will feed my child.” 

He nodded before capturing her lips in a kiss. “Thank you.”  Beverly smiled and sat up.  “Is the shuttle ready?” 

“Yes. We can leave when you’re ready.  It won’t take long to reach La Barre.” 

“Let me put a shirt on. Jacques should still be sleeping, but just put him in his bassinet and we’ll carry him to the shuttle that way.  Did you get the special baby seat installed for him?”  Jean-Luc nodded. “Of course.  Geordi and Barclay were finishing it up when I left.”  Jean-Luc reached into his pocket. “I got you something.  I, ah..well we can get something nicer later if you’d like.”

“What did you get me?” 

“This,” Jean-Luc held out a ring.  It was a simple wedding band, but it brought tears to her eyes.  “Do you have one for you?” 

“Yes.”  He dug in his pocket and pulled out the other ring.  She took the one for him and held it out. “I think I should put it on you.”  They exchanged rings and grinned at each other. “I guess this makes it official, Mister Picard.”

“I guess it does, Mrs Picard.”  Beverly grinned. “Should I change my name?”

“It’s entirely up to you, my love. I wouldn’t object, but I also understand if you wanted to keep Crusher for Wesley’s sake.” 

“I’ll talk to Wes this weekend before I decide.”  Jean-Luc nodded and headed into their son’s nursery, gently picking up the sleeping infant.  Beverly was right behind him and grinned. “You don’t want to put him down, do you?”  He shook his head. “No.” 

“I’ll carry the bassinet, you carry the baby.”

###

Jean-Luc gently touched down in an unused field towards the back of the vineyard.  “This is as close as I can get without Robert getting mad. I’ll come back to replicate more of  Jacques’ formula later.”  He glanced over at Beverly who was wringing her fingers.  “Nervous?”

“Of course I’m nervous! I’m about to meet my inlaws and introduce them to my son that I didn’t give birth to! At least you already know Nana.”  Jean-Luc paled. “Have you told your grandmother yet?”

“No, I wanted to tell Wesley first. To be honest, I don’t think Nana will be surprised.”  Jean-Luc raised his eyebrows. “No?”

“Nana told me you had feelings for me after Jack’s funeral.  Do you remember when she took Wesley to the park and left us alone in the house?”  He nodded.  It had been torture for him as he had wanted to hold Beverly close and promise never to leave her, but he felt bound by the fact that her husband had just died.  “Nana thought you might have told me then.”  Jean-Luc’s eyes widened. “You’ve known all this time?” 

“Well...suspected.  I was just waiting for you to....” She trailed off when he rose from his seat and kissed her.  “I’m sorry I made you wait so long.” 

“We’re here now.”  She glanced behind to the babyseat Geordi installed with Reg’s help at their sleeping son.   “Do you want to carry him, Papa?” 

“Just take what you think you’ll need right away, I’ll come back for the rest of our things later.”  Beverly nodded and shouldered a small diaper bag Deanna had given her.  It contained a cool compartment for keeping some of Jacques’ formula chilled until he needed it, and she filled it up quickly from the replicator.  “That should do for a few hours.” 

Jean-Luc reached out with his free hand to clasp hers.  “Ready?”  

“As I’ll ever be.  You?” 

“I must admit, I’m feeling a little nervous myself.  Mostly because I’ll have to face your son later this evening.”  Beverly chuckled. “Don’t be.  He’s wanted you to be his father since he was small. Ask him, he’ll tell you.” 

###

“Jean-Luc! It’s so good to see you!”  Marie greeted him with kisses on his cheeks and held out her hands to Beverly. “You must be Beverly.  I’m Marie. And...who’s this?”  Jean-Luc blushed.

“Marie, I’d like you to meet our son, Jacques.”  She raised her eyebrows. “I didn’t know you were expecting...Jean-Luc never told me in his letters home...but I thought...well, never mind.  Let me hold my nephew.”  Jean-Luc passed the slumbering bundle to Marie and her hand brushed against the cool metal of Jean-Luc’s ring. “Married, too?”  He nodded.  Marie turned to Beverly, “Congratulations and welcome to the family.  I understand your son is joining us later?” 

“Yes, after his classes are done for the day.”

“Marie, we thought we would stay the week and the following weekend if that’s alright with you? This way we could see Wesley twice.” 

“Fine with me.  Now, shall we surprise your brother?”  Jean-Luc groaned. “Couldn’t you just tell him?” Marie laughed. “He’ll be pleased for you.”  Marie turned and carried Jacques into the house and into the living room, where Robert had been waiting for his brother to arrive.  Robert was expecting it to be an engagement announcement, and he did a double take when Marie placed the infant into his arms.  “Meet your nephew, Jacques.” 

“Nephew?”  Jean-Luc wasn’t far behind.  “Hello, brother.” 

“Jean-Luc, is he yours?” 

“ _Oui._ Would you like to meet his mother?”  Robert nodded and Jean-Luc pulled Beverly into the room. “Robert,  meet Beverly...Jacques’ mother and my wife. Beverly, this is my brother Robert.” 

Robert raised his eyebrows. “Wife?” Jean-Luc rubbed the back of his neck. “I think we have a lot to talk about this evening after Wesley gets here.”

“Ah, yes. Beverly’s son from her first marriage?” 

“Yes, to Jack Crusher.”  Robert raised his eyebrows. “Jack?”  He motioned with the bundle in his arms. Jean-Luc nodded. “Jack was my best friend. We’ve named our son after the two men who got us together  -  Jack and Walker.  His name is Jacques Walker Picard.” 

“And how old is the little mite?”

“Three weeks,” Beverly supplied.  Jacques began to fuss in his uncle’s arms and Robert passed him to Beverly.  “Sorry, he’s probably hungry.”  Beverly settled into a chair and Jean-Luc passed her one of the bottles.  Robert eyed Beverly and Jacques cautiously.  “I don’t understand. Jean-Luc, you told us just a few months ago you and Beverly finally got together, but you have a baby and are married? “ 

“It’s a very long story, Robert.  And I promise we will explain everything once Wesley arrives.  But Jacques is definitely my son.  _Our_ son.”  Jean-Luc looked around. “Speaking of sons, where is Rene?” 

“School.  He should be home soon.”  A grin spread across Robert’s face. “Why don’t you go pick him up? We didn’t tell him you were coming. It’ll be a nice surprise.” 

“Bev?  Is that ok?”  She nodded. “Of course, Jean-Luc.   Could you stop at the shuttle and get our bags on the way back?” 

“Of course. Need anything for Jacques from from the replicator?”  She shook her head. “Not until tomorrow.  I replicated enough of the formula for now. And bring my med kit?”  Jean-Luc dropped a kiss on her head. “Pain, again?”  She grimaced. “Just a little.”  Jean-Luc pressed a kiss to the top of Jacques head.  “I’ll be back soon.”

After he left the room, Marie shooed her husband out. “Go.  Beverly and I need to talk.” 

“Shall I put the kettle on?” 

“That would be lovely, Robert. Thank you.”

Marie turned to Beverly. “Not that it’s any of my business, but why aren’t you breastfeeding Jacques?”  Beverly sighed.  “The simplest reason I can give you is that my milk hasn’t come in yet.  The complicated reason....well, it will have to wait until we all talk later.  But I do plan on it once I’m able.”  Marie nodded. “You look...well, you don’t look like you gave birth three weeks ago. You look amazing for a new mother.”  Beverly blushed. “Thank you, Marie.  I’d love to say it’s good genes, but...”

“You’ll explain it later?”  Beverly nodded. 

“When Jean-Luc gets back, I’ll have him and Robert get down Rene’s old cradle from the attic.  I prepared Jean-Luc’s old bedroom for Wesley, and a guest room for you and Jean-Luc, but I didn’t know you were bringing this little one along.  Give me a few minutes and I’ll get a bedroom prepped for him.”

“Marie, no...Jacques can sleep in our room.” Jacques turned away from the bottle and Beverly gently rubbed his back.  “Good job, Jacques. Almost drank all of it!”  Beverly wrinkled her nose. “Hmm. Appears someone needs a change.  Marie, is there a place I can change him?” 

“We can get down Rene’s old changing table, too.  For now, let me show you to your bedroom.” 

###

“Nephew!!”  Rene ran out of the small school Jean-Luc and Robert had attended as children and threw his arms around Jean-Luc’s waist.  “Papa didn’t tell me you were coming!” 

“I know.  We decided to surprise you.”  Rene tugged on Jean-Luc’s hand. “Come meet my friends!”  Jean-Luc could only laugh as he let his nephew pull him across the schoolyard.  “Pierre!  He’s here!!  This is my Uncle Jean-Luc! He’s Captain of the _Enterprise!_ ” 

There was a chorus of “wows” and nervous giggles as Jean-Luc was introduced to all of Rene’s friends.  He bent down to whisper in Rene’s ear. “Beverly is back at the house and her son is arriving later today.”  Rene’s eyes lit up. “The one at Starfleet Academy who used to be your Ensign?”

“The one and the same.”

“Wow!!  Three officers from the _Enterprise_ in my house!!! This is so cool!!!”  Rene waved to his friends. “Bye guys, we have to go home now!”  Jean-Luc laughed and started after his nephew when he heard “Captain Picard?”  He stopped and turned around.  “Yes?”

“Hello, Sir.  My name is Claudia Boucher...I’m Rene’s teacher.  I didn’t believe him when he told me Captain Picard was his uncle.  I do apologize.” 

“Nothing to apologize for, Miss Boucher.  If you are familiar with my brother, it’s understandable.”  Claudia grinned at the older man.  “Still, let me make it up to you.  Can I take you out for a drink?”  Jean-Luc raised his eyebrows.  “No, I’m sorry Miss Boucher. My wife is waiting for me back at the vineyard and I promised I would be back before our son arrives.”  Jean-Luc hoped Wesley would be alright with him referring to him as his son and not step-son.

“Oh,”  Claudia sadly said. “Wife?”  Jean-Luc nodded and held up his ring finger. “Wife.” 

“Sorry.” 

“No harm done.  But if you’ll excuse me, I need to catch up with my nephew.” 

###

When Jean-Luc and Rene arrived home, Marie was in the kitchen getting dinner ready.  “She won’t let me help,”  Beverly said when Jean-Luc dropped a kiss on her head.

“You are a guest, Beverly. Please.” 

“She doesn’t let me help when I’m home either, and she says this is my home. Just humour her. How’s Jacques?” 

“Asleep in his bassinet in the living room.  Marie said you and Robert could get down Rene’s old baby furniture.”  Jean-Luc nodded. “I’ll put our bags upstairs and grab Robert.  Marie, are we in my room?”

“No, I thought Wesley could use your room. The room’s not big enough for two.  I gave you the guest room opposite the attic stairs.” Jean-Luc raised his eyebrows.  “I’m honoured.”

“What? Why?”

“Marie has given us the ‘nice guest room’, as Maman used to call it.”  Beverly rolled her eyes. “Because the other rooms aren’t nice?  Every room in this house is nice.” 

“Ah,  but it has it’s own bathroom.” 

“I see.  You know, speaking of baths, we’re going to have to give Jacques a bath tonight.” 

“Err...how do we do that?”  Beverly nodded towards the large farmhouse sink in the kitchen. “Every baby deserves at least one bath in the kitchen sink. You _do_ remember how to bathe a baby?”

“Beverly, it’s been years. Wesley was the last baby I gave a bath to, and I nearly drowned him!”  Beverly laughed. “Wes was fine.  You just need to keep a hand on the baby’s back so he doesn’t slip, that’s all.” 

“That’s all,”  Jean-Luc muttered. “Nearly had a heart attack when Wesley’s head went under, but oh, no, I need to give my son a bath and try not to drown him.”  Beverly rolled her eyes. “I’ll help.” 

Jean-Luc glanced out the window. “I see Wesley walking up the path.  How do you want to handle this? What should we tell him first?” 

“Take Jacques upstairs first.  We don’t want him to announce himself before we tell Wes about him.”  Jean-Luc nodded.  “Good idea.” 

Telling Wesley went easier than they thought, although he had questions about Beverly being pregnant.

“Mom, I didn’t know you were pregnant...you would have been when I left, yeah? And how did I not know you and the Captain got married? You only told me a few months ago you were moving in with him....”  

“Wesley, Jean-Luc and I will explain everything after dinner.  Would you like to meet your little brother?”  Wesley grinned. “Yeah.  I mean, I wanted a little brother for years. I wanted you to marry Captain Picard years ago, too.”

“Wes, please.  You can call me Jean-Luc now.  You don’t need to call me Captain.” 

“I could call you Dad.”  Jean-Luc’s eyes bulged out. “I suppose you could, if you wanted to.” Wesley grinned.  He had wanted to call Jean-Luc his father since he was a child.  “Mom, are you changing your name?” 

“I haven’t decided yet, Wes,” Beverly said as she led him up the stairs to the guest room.  “Crusher is on a lot of medical documents and papers...plus it’s your last name and I wouldn’t want you to feel abandoned.”  Wesley shook his head. “Mom, you should do it.  You love Captain....I mean, Dad.” Beverly grinned. “You’re sticking with Dad?”

“Yeah, I mean, my brother will call him that...what’s his name, by the way?” 

“Jacques.” It was Wesley’s turn to be surprised. “Like...like my Dad?”  Jean-Luc placed a hand on Wesley’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Yes, like your father.  Jack Crusher was my best friend for many years, and I can think of no more fitting of a tribute than giving his name to my son.  His middle name is Walker.” 

“After Captain Keel?  I kinda remember him, too.” 

“Yes, after Walker Keel, my other best friend.  Together the three of us...well, I suppose I ought to tell you the stories eventually.  But for now, we’d like for you to meet your little brother.”  Beverly picked up the sleeping Jacques. “Would you like to hold him?” 

“I....I don’t know how.” Jean-Luc chuckled.  “I said the same thing to your mother when she placed you  in my arms when you were a baby.  Here, sit on the bed if that will make you feel better.” 

Wesley was soon cradling his little brother in his arms. “He’s so tiny.”  Beverly laughed. “So were you, once.”

“Hi, Jacques.  I’m your big brother Wesley.  You might not see me a lot because I go to the Academy and then I’ll be a Starfleet officer like Mom and Dad, but I’ll try to be there for you whenever you need me.”  Beverly leaned against Jean-Luc and he wrapped his arm around her.  “Look at our boys,”  she said, smiling.  “They’re both perfect.”  Jean-Luc kissed Beverly’s temple. 

After a bath and a full belly, Jacques was put to bed in Rene’s old crib sat in the corner of Wesley’s room, at his insistence. 

“Wes, you know he’s going to be up a few times in the night crying.  Are you _sure_ you want to share a room with him?”  Wesley nodded at his mother. “I do.  Since I won’t get to spend a lot of time with him, I thought it would be nice to share a room with him now.” 

“Good to know, considering we’re going to have to turn your bedroom in our quarters into the nursery.” 

“Gee, thanks Mom.”  Beverly grinned and activated the baby monitor, pocketing the other one.  “Come on, let’s go downstairs and Jean-Luc and I will explain everything to you.”


	5. Chapter 5

_Jean-Luc stalked towards Beverly and grabbed her roughly.  “I should still kill you.”  Beverly looked him in the eye and defiantly said back, “go ahead.”_

_“No.  You would like that, wouldn’t you?  Then you wouldn’t have to think about the child. I bet it’s eating you up inside, knowing that your child with_ him _died.  I bet he was weak. Too weak, like his mother and father.”  Beverly maintained a blank look, while inside she was smiling.  She knew her baby wasn’t dead at all, and was safe with his father.  “Well? Answer me!”_

_“Yes.  He was weak.”  Jean-Luc smugly smiled. “That’s what I thought.”  He brought his lips to hers and roughly kissed her, forcing his tongue in her mouth.  “I am so angry with you.  Just looking at you makes me see red.”  He unzipped his trousers and removed the garment, before flinging his shirt off.  “But it just makes me want you.”  He tugged at her uniform until the zip came down and he pushed it off her shoulders.  He palmed her breasts through her lacy bra and lowered his mouth, tracing around the bra with his tongue.  She shivered.  “Do you want me?”_

_“Yes,”  she spoke softly and pulled her uniform down her legs, revealing a matching set of knickers.  Jean-Luc groaned and nipped her throat.  “I didn’t hear you,” he said, pushing her knickers down to her ankles and placing his knee between hers, pushing her legs apart._

_“I want you.”  It wasn’t a lie.  She was in love with Jean-Luc...just perhaps not this one.  On the other hand, weren’t they both the same person?  He growled and threw her down on the bed.  “God, Beverly, the things you do to me. Troi wants me to kill you.  She keeps insisting I need to do it, to punish you, but god, Beverly...if I kill you, I’d only be punishing myself.”_

_“Then don’t.  Get rid of her instead.”  Jean-Luc looked up and raised an eyebrow.  “You think I haven’t thought about that? What I wouldn’t give to be rid of that...that...well, let’s not think about her right now, shall we? All I want to think about is how good your legs feel wrapped around me.”  Beverly obliged and wrapped her legs around his waist. She wondered if she should consider herself lucky to still be alive or not and wondered if he would have killed the baby if she hadn’t sent him through to the other universe._

###

Wesley stared slack jawed at his mother and step-father.  “So...my little brother is from a different Beverly, but she’s the same as you biologically so he _is_ my brother?” 

“In a nutshell.” 

“Weird.  So...are you guys married?” 

“Yes,” Beverly said at the same time Jean-Luc said “no.”  Wesley laughed. “Uhh...guys?  Make up your mind?”  Jean-Luc reached for Beverly’s hand.  “Commander Riker back dated a marriage certificate stating he married us when he was still Captain after the Borg, but before I was reinstated to full duty. As far as Starfleet is concerned, your mother and I are married and have been since then.   But since we never had an official ceremony, we’d like to have one.   It’s unconventional, I know.”

“Ok. So if anyone asks, you and Mom got married ten months ago?” 

“Right.”

“Was I there?” 

“What do you mean? You were still on the _Enterprise_.”

“No, was I at your wedding?”  Jean-Luc looked pensive and shot a glace over at Beverly, who nodded. “I think so.  I wouldn’t have gotten married without my son present, so yes, Wes.  You were there.  Hmm, I suppose we need a few details in case you get asked.” 

“My quarters.  I was still recovering and you had released me to quarters, remember?”  Beverly nodded and picked up the story.  “It was spur of the moment.” 

“After being Locutus I realised what was important to me was _you_.”  Beverly softly smiled and Wesley held up his hands “Hold up, Mom. Dad.  You’re acting like it actually happened.” 

“Wes...I really _did_ realise how important your mother was to me after my experience as Locutus.  When I was brought on to the _Enterprise_ , it was hearing her voice that broke me free.  So it’s not entirely a lie.  It just took us a few more months to actually be together, but I think it’s best if we come up with a solid story, just in case.” 

“Ok.  So you guys called me to your quarters, called Will, and exchanged vows without fanfare?” 

“Precisely.  Which is what we plan to do here, this weekend if possible.”   Jean-Luc eyed his new step-son. “I know I don’t have to tell you how important it is that no one outside of the family and the senior officers find out about Jacques’ origins or our not so accurate marriage ceremony.  Just remember what they wanted to do with Lal.”  Wesley solemnly nodded. 

“Who’s Lal?”  Wesley turned towards his uncle. “Lal was Data’s daughter.”

“Data? Isn’t he a robot?” Wesley grinned. “He’s an android.  He created Lal in his lab, but something went wrong and she suffered a failure...but not before Starfleet wanted to take her away to examine her in a lab.” Robert nodded, and Wesley looked over at his step-father again. “But, Sir...you don’t _really_ think they would take away your child?” 

Jean-Luc held out his hands. “I don’t know, Wesley. As he gets older, we’ll have to keep an eye on him to make sure there isn’t anything...I shudder to say abnormal, but I’m not sure what the appropriate word to use is.  Bev?”

“Let’s go with unfamiliar. You know, this would be a fascinating study in nature versus nurture...”

“ _Beverly_...”  She sheepishly grinned at her husband. “Sorry.  Our son is not going to be an experiment, even for me.” 

“Thank you.” 

“Mom, you called him your son?  You’re really sure about this?” Beverly nodded. “I’m sure.  I altered some medical files so it would look like I had been pregnant.  If anyone asks, you can say you didn’t know before you left.” Jean-Luc reached for Beverly’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Wesley, I need you to know I never any point pressured your mother into any of this.” 

“I know.  You started dating Mom before all this happened and well, I kinda wished you married Mom when I was a kid.”  Jean-Luc raised his eyebrows and Beverly leaned in to whisper, “told you so,” into his ear. 

“Beverly, is that why you can’t breastfeed Jacques?”  Beverly nodded at Marie. “Yes. I gave myself hormones to promote lactation, but I can’t accelerate it any faster than I already have.  But I do plan on breastfeeding him once I’m able.  I think that would help to bond him to me since I didn’t technically give birth to him. The hormones are working...slowly.” 

“Oh, gross, Mom.  I don’t wanna know about that.” 

“Sorry, sweetheart.”

“Who knows the truth?” 

“Other than us?  Just Will, Deanna, Data, Geordi,  and Worf.”  Jean-Luc grinned at Beverly. “Guinan probably knows, too.”  Beverly snorted.  “Guinan knows just about everything. I’m surprised she hadn’t visited me to be honest.” 

“My roommate asked me why I was coming to France this weekend....I told him I was visiting my parents,”  Wesley shot a look over at Jean-Luc, “but nothing about Jacques.  I’m sure I can make something up though.” 

“Tell him Jacques was early. That’s what we’re letting people on the _Enterprise_ think.”  Wesley nodded. 

“I’m sorry, Jean-Luc, Beverly....I don’t understand any of this.”

“It’s alright, Marie.  It’s a bit complicated, but I’ll try to explain it in simple terms.  Have you ever heard the theory that every time you’re faced with a decision, there’s another version of you in another universe that does the opposite of you?”  She nodded. “Right, so, somewhere a universe was created where instead of Earth joining with the Vulcans to become Starfleet, we fought them to become an Empire instead of a Federation.  The Empire is a brutal place.  People earn promotions by murdering their commanding officer, and people get punished by being put into a chamber that causes extreme pain.

“A few months ago, our ship was pulled into this alternate universe and myself, Counsellor Troi, and Mister La Forge were on this other ship where we were all duplicated, but our counterparts were all twisted and evil...except, apparently, for that universe’s Beverly.  She managed to somehow not be as evil, though I suspect it had more to do with her situation than anything else.”

“What was that?” 

“Beverly was known as the Captain’s Woman.  Basically, she was the Captain’s lover.  No one would touch her or they would find themselves in the agony booth.  To make a long story short, while I was impersonating the other Captain Picard,  Beverly came to me.  She knew I wasn’t that Picard, and I knew she wasn’t my Beverly, but we were together, and I apparently got her pregnant.”

“Sir, are you really sure he’s yours and not the other Captain Picard’s?”  He nodded.  “In her message to us, she explained that that universe’s Picard had a vasectomy years ago so she knew it wasn’t his child, and she had been able to calculate conception...”  He trailed off as Wesley stuck his fingers in his ears. 

“I don’t want to know about that!” 

“ _You_ asked!”  Marie chuckled.  “Alright, so that explains how Jacques happened, but how did he get here?” 

“You know, I’m not entirely sure myself.  Data and Geordi are analysing the data that Beverly sent on a chip. Wesley, next time you’re able to visit us, I’m sure they would want your help.  But basically, she modified the technique their La Forge used to drag our ship into their universe and managed to send Jacques through.”

“Why?”

“Because the other me threatened to kill the baby and to kill Beverly.”  Marie gasped and covered her mouth.  “So, is she dead?” 

“I don’t know.” A somber silence fell on the group until it was broken by a cry coming out of the baby monitor. Beverly rose, but Wesley held out his hand to her. “Let me go, Mom.” 

“Wes, are you sure?” He grinned. “Yeah, how hard can it be?  I just have to get him back to sleep, right?” 

“Check if he’s wet.  If he is, you’ll have to change him.” 

“Uh...change him?”  Jean-Luc’s hand came down on his step-son’s shoulder. “I’ll go with you and show you what you need to do.  You know, when you were his age, I changed your diapers.  I’ll even show you how to make sure Jacques doesn’t pee on you...something your mother failed to show me when I was changing yours.”  Beverly laughed and Wesley made a face.

“Ew. I peed on you?” 

“Yep.” 

###

Jean-Luc gently lifted his second son – for he always considered Wesley his – out of the cradle and passed him to Wesley.  “Uhh...what do I do?” 

“Check if he’s wet. Just feel his bottom gently.” 

“It’s....squishy.”  Jean-Luc grinned.  “Sounds like he needs to be changed.  If we were on the ship, we would replicate a changing kit and throw the soiled one in the relimator, but since we don’t have anything like that here,  we have this,” He pointed to a cylindrical bin next to the changing table.

“What’s that?”

“It’s something called a diaper genie.  It’s been around for centuries, but the technology is fascinating.  It manages to seal the diaper inside so the smell doesn’t permeate the room, and then you dispose of the liner once it’s full.” 

“Ok...so...now what?”

“Gently lay Jacques on the changing mat. He’s still young enough that he won’t roll around or fuss too much.  Unsnap the bottom of his bodysuit and push it out of the way.”  Wesley did as he was told, and Jean-Luc leaned down and gently tickled Jacques’ tummy.  “Here we go, Jacques.  We’re going to make you nice and fresh.”  Wesley stifled his laugh at the usual stoic Captain speaking in a soft sing song voice. 

“Now, the trick to making sure he doesn’t pee on you is placing something over him while you’re cleaning him off. Then, if he goes, it won’t spray on you.”  Jean-Luc passed a washcloth to Wesley. “Remove his diaper, and immediately place this over him.  Trust me.” 

Wesley gingerly peeled off the diaper and shook his head. “Oh man, this smells!”

“Guess he was more than just wet.” 

“This is disgusting.” Jean-Luc grinned. “Your mother will be pleased to hear that. This means you’re definitely not ready to have sex.” 

“Too late for that,” Wesley muttered.  Jean-Luc raised his eyebrows.  “I heard that.  You know, Wes...if you ever want to talk about anything, I hope you would come to me,”  he passed Wesley some wipes and showed him how to carefully clean Jacques’ bottom. 

“Commander Riker talked to me before I left.” 

“Wesley, do you really think you should be taking advice about woman from Commander Riker?” 

“Sir, you’re one to talk.  You and Mom...well...you’ve been dancing around each other for years.”  Jean-Luc gave his step-son a wry smile and handed him a fresh diaper. “Lift up his legs and gently slide the clean one under his bottom.” Wesley followed the directions and managed to refasten the diaper and bodysuit before lifting up his brother again.  “Sorry, Sir.  I guess that was out of line.” 

Jean-Luc sighed. “Not if it’s the truth.  I’ve loved your mother for a very long time and I was just afraid to tell her.” 

“Why?”  Wesley sat down in the rocking chair with his baby brother and started rocking gently to try to get him back to sleep. Jean-Luc grinned at the sight. 

“I feared rejection, and I couldn’t stand the thought of your mother rejecting me and then not being in my life anymore....her _and_ you.  I hope you know, I’ve always considered you my son.  Jack asked,”  Jean-Luc’s voice broke. “Jack asked me to look after you.  I hope I’ve done a good job.” 

Wesley smiled at his step-father. “Yeah, you have.  Dad.”  Jean-Luc grinned and looked up when he heard a soft cry from the doorway.  Beverly was looking at them, tears in her eyes and her hand covering her mouth.  “Beverly?  Are you alright?” 

“I’m fine, fine...it’s just the hormones have finally caught up to me.  You’re so...and Wes...”  Beverly started crying and Jean-Luc hurried over to her and wrapped his arms around her.  “Shh, you cry if you need to, my love.”  He glanced over at Wesley, who nodded. “Wesley has Jacques.  Why don’t we go to bed?”  Beverly tearfully nodded.  “Goodnight, Wes.”

“Night Mom, night Dad,” Beverly let out a small sob again and Wesley rolled his eyes. “I’ll put Jacques back in his crib once he falls back to sleep.  When does he need fed again?” 

“I’ll feed him, Wes.  He needs to...well, since I want to breastfeed, we’ve decided it’s best if I handle feeding him for now so he’ll take to my breasts easier.”  Wesley made a face. “Still gross.  Goodnight.” 

###

Beverly was curled against Jean-Luc in bed after making love.  “I’m sorry about earlier. The hormones...” Jean-Luc kissed the top of her head. “Shh, I know. I was around you when you were pregnant with Wesley.  I remember.” 

“Yeah, but this is extra concentrated.  I’m trying to push nine months of extra hormones into me in only a few weeks. It might get rough.”

“I can handle it.” Beverly grinned. “But you know what _else_ the extra hormones do?”  Jean-Luc shook his head.  “No, what?” 

Beverly rolled over to face Jean-Luc and straddled his waist.  “It makes me insatiable.”  Jean-Luc chuckled. “And this is different from normal how?”

“Oh you!” Beverly lightly slapped Jean-Luc’s chest.  He rolled them over and kissed her.  “Think it might be a while, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have fun with you right now...”  he kissed down her collar and to her breasts and she visibly winced. “Sorry. Should I leave them alone?” 

Beverly sighed. “No, but yes.”  He laughed. “I understand.  But..let me know when I can touch them again?”

“Mm, Jacques will be a toddler by then.”  Jean-Luc frowned. “Really?”

“We’ll see.”  Jean-Luc continued his ministrations and settled between her legs.  “But I can kiss here,  right?” 

“Yes, please do!” 

Beverly was floating in a sea of bliss when the baby monitor sounded with Jacques’ cries. She grumbled, but sat up and Jean-Luc gently pushed her down again. “I’ll get him.  Do you think he’s hungry?”

“Probably. You’ll need to fetch a bottle from the kitchen too.”  He nodded and headed for the door. “Uh, clothes?”  Jean-Luc looked down and laughed. “Suppose it would be bad to walk into Wesley’s room naked.”  He grabbed his shorts and shoved them on.  “Back in a few.” 

He gently opened the door, but Wesley was awake with his brother in his arms.  “Is he hungry?”  Jean-Luc nodded. “Your mother thinks so.  I’ll take him in to her. Try to get some more sleep.”

“I was going to bring him to you, but I didn’t know....”  Wesley cast his eyes on Jean-Luc’s attire. “Thank you.”  Jean-Luc took the baby and cuddled him close. “Hey baby, Papa’s here.  Let’s go take you to Maman.” 

“Maman?”

“French.”  Wesley nodded. “Is Papa French for Dad?” 

“ _Oui.”_   Wesley rolled his eyes. “Time to add French to my studies...”

“Indeed.”  Jean-Luc turned to leave the room. “We have his bassinet in our bedroom.  We’ll put him to sleep there when he’s done.” 

“Thanks, _Papa_.” 

Jean-Luc was pleasantly surprised to see Beverly hadn’t bothered putting on clothing and she held out her arm for the baby.  “Who’s my precious baby?”  Jean-Luc grinned. “I’ll get a bottle, you stay comfortable.” 

“Planned on it.”  Beverly gave him a cheeky grin and commenced playing peek a boo with Jacques.  Jean-Luc pulled on a dressing gown Marie had thoughtfully put on the bedroom door and shoved his feet into slippers before heading into the kitchen.  He moved the kettle to the stove and grabbed a tray, figuring they might as well have a cup of tea now that they were awake.

 Having an infant around  was interesting, to say the least.  It had only been a few days, and Jean-Luc regretted not being better prepared, but he hadn’t known.  His thoughts turned towards having a second child with Beverly so they could experience everything together and grinned, thinking about what Beverly’s reaction might be to breastfeeding for additional years.  He briefly wondered if they were too old for babies, but pushed the thought aside.  

He grabbed a bottle out of the fridge and placed it in the special bottle warmer Beverly had that would slowly raise the temperature with the push of a button, and then cut off when it reached optimal temperature.  He placed it on the tray alongside their cups of tea and hurried up the stairs.  He paused in the doorway.  Beverly had Jacques against her breast and he thought it was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen and a tear formed in his eye.  How this woman he loved could just take on the child from another her and love him...

“Are you?”  Beverly shook her head. “No.  But I thought it would be good to see if he could latch on. Looks like we’ll have no problems.  I would assume Beverly had been breastfeeding him before she sent him to us.”  Jean-Luc nodded. “I brought you a cup of tea.”  He sat it down on the  bedside table and passed her the bottle.  He watched with awe as Jacques took the bottle and curled his little hands around it, as if he was trying to hold it.

“I love you, Beverly.”

“I love you too.”


	6. Chapter 6

Jacques had woken up twice more in the night, but was now sleeping in the bassinet next to the bed.  “When will he start sleeping all night?” 

Beverly shrugged.  “It varies.  Some babies sleep through right away, others take a few months....Wesley was two before he didn’t wake up regularly in the middle of the night.”  Jean-Luc gently rubbed Beverly’s back. “We’ll blame that on Jack’s DNA.” Beverly laughed. “Hope so.” She yawned. “I’m getting old.  I’m going to see if I can get a little more sleep while Jacques is sleeping.  I always tell my new moms they should try to sleep when the baby is sleeping.  Care to join me?” 

“Mm, yes.  But let me make a call first. We have a wedding to hold today.”  Beverly grinned. “Make it in the afternoon or early evening.”  Jean-Luc leaned down and kissed her. “I’d give Jacques a kiss too, but I don’t want to risk waking him.”

“He knows you love him.”   Jean-Luc smiled.  “Yeah, I do.  Be back soon.”

Jean-Luc entered the kitchen to see Marie putting together a tray with a tea pot, croissants, butter, and jam.  “I was just going to bring this up to you and Beverly.”

“Marie, you don’t need to do that.”  Marie shook her head at her brother-in-law. “I know.  But I want to.” She pressed the tray into his  hands.  “And you must let me look after the baby some night this week so you and Beverly can have a proper night away to celebrate your marriage.” 

“I’ll mention it to Beverly. Thank you, Marie.  I came down to organise the wedding.  Beverly would like to hold it in the afternoon or evening.”  Marie nodded. “I can arrange it for you.  Go, take breakfast to your wife. I heard the baby in the night. I remember those days well.” 

“Thank you.  Where’s Wes?” 

“Rene took him on a tour.  No doubt to pump him for information about the Academy and Starfleet and serving under you.”  Jean-Luc grimaced. “I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t be.  Robert and I...we’ve come to an agreement to allow Rene to follow his dreams.  I think Robert learned from what happened between you and Maurice.”

“I’m glad.  Rene needs to explore his options. Maybe he’ll go to the Academy, but decide after a few years he doesn’t like Starfleet and wants to come home. Maybe Jacques will want to run the vineyard, or Wesley.  We need to give our children the opportunity to grow and explore....I only wish my own father had seen it that way.  You don’t know how worried I am Marie, that I will wind up exactly like my father.” 

“You won’t.  Simply because your mother wasn’t.  Trust me.”  He grinned and picked up the tray.  “Thank you.  For everything.”

“Of course. Now go take Breakfast to your wife.  I’ll make the arrangements for a simple ceremony today. Shall we say, four o’clock?  And then I will make a scrumptious supper for us all and you and Beverly will leave Jacques in my room for the night.”  Jean-Luc just shook his head.  “You know, Marie, _I’m_ usually the ones giving the orders.” 

Marie smugly smiled. “Then consider me an Admiral.  You have to obey them!”  Jean-Luc gave her a mock salute before picking the tray up again. “Yes, Ma’am.”

Jean-Luc crept back into the bedroom and smiled when he saw Beverly fast asleep.  He popped the cozy onto the teapot and placed the tray gently on the dresser before he removed his clothes to join Beverly in slumber.  He wanted to kiss her, to wake her up to tell her how grateful he was that she would be married to him not just legally, but also spiritually.  He wasn’t really a spiritual man, but he wanted to say real vows to Beverly.  Perhaps spiritual wasn’t the right word, but Jean-Luc was struggling to come up with how much it would mean to him.  He wrapped an arm around Beverly and she curled into him.  He kissed the top of her head before glancing over at the sleeping Jacques.  _I hope you let your maman get a little more sleep._ Jean-Luc’s eyes drifted shut. Happy and content.

###

“Did Uncle Jean-Luc let you fly the ship?  That’s so cool!!”

“Yeah.  But I had to pass my pilot exam with Commander Riker first.  And man, that was hard.  I bet it was harder than the one I would have had at the Academy.”  Wesley followed Rene into a large barn piled high with wooden barrels. “Woah!” 

Rene grinned. “This is the Barrel room.  They’re all filled with wine from different years.  Papa uses chalk to write the year and the type of grape on the barrel. He tastes it every once in a while until he thinks it’s ready to be bottled. C’mon, I’ll show you the bottling.” 

“Uhm, your papa does this all by himself?”  Rene shook his head. “No.  He hires a bunch of people to help.  But Maman and I help at harvesting time.”  Rene led his new cousin into another barn before peppering him with more questions about the _Enterprise_. 

“Wesley, do you think I could serve on the _Enterprise_  some day?”  Wesley shrugged. “I mean, if you go to the Academy and do really well, I don’t see why not.  But you know, Captain Picard might not be the captain by then.” 

“I bet he’ll be an admiral.  How come you called him Captain Picard and not Papa? Isn’t he your dad?”  Wesley shook his head. 

“I mean, kinda.  He’s my step-dad since he married my mom.  But it’s hard to correct old habits.   I used to call him my uncle when I was little.” 

“Why?”

“I dunno.  My mom and dad were best friends with him and with another man named Walker Keel.  So, the Captain and Walker were like brothers to my dad, so I called them both uncle.  But Uncle Walker died a few years ago. At least, we think he did.  His ship was destroyed.  We don’t know if he was on it or not, but it’s been three years.” 

“Wow.  Is it really dangerous?” Wesley shrugged. “I guess. I never thought about it.  I mean, my dad died on a mission when I was five, but I never thought about it being dangerous.  Just that accidents happen anywhere.” 

###

Beverly lazily opened her eyes and smiled. Jean-Luc was spooning her and had his hand on her breast.  She wiggled against him and he groaned. “Mm, don’t do that unless you mean it!” 

“Oh, but I do. But first, I need to take my next dose of hormones.” 

“Hmm, you sure do know how to kill a mood.” She laughed and fumbled on the bedside table and applied the hypospray to her hip. “Now, where were we?” 

Jean-Lu cracked an eye open. “But Jacques is in the room with us.”  Beverly raised her eyebrows. “Your point?” 

“Is that...I mean...won’t it scar him to hear his parents having sex?”  Beverly laughed. “I promise you, if he wakes up, he won’t even remember what he heard.”  She leaned over and kissed him, sliding a leg over his hips.  He grinned against her lips. “Well, you _did_ say the hormones would make you more amorous...” 

They didn’t leave the bed again until Jacques began crying for his breakfast.  She chuckled. “Well, there’s the alarm clock.”  She stretched and reached for her robe.  Jean-Luc admire d her shape before he, too, rose from the bed.

“Marie made us a breakfast tray, but I’ll go down and fetch another bottle for Jacques.”

“Mm, I feel positively spoiled.”  He leaned over and kissed her before throwing on his clothing from the night before. “You should be.” 

Jean-Luc returned five minutes later and passed Beverly, now fully clothed, the warmed bottle.  “Marie said our wedding will be at 1600.  She spoke with the local officiate, and they agreed to come to the vineyard to not draw attention to the wedding.  Marie explained to him that we had been married on our ship, but wanted to exchange vows here, too.  So, no need to worry about any confusion or marriage license...as far as he’s concerned we are already married.”  Beverly grinned.

“I packed your dress uniform.”  Jean-Luc groaned.  “I hate that thing.” 

“I know, but you’re so handsome in it.  I packed a dress for me, and I replicated a little suit for Jacques.”

“Will he be at the ceremony?”  Beverly nodded. “I’d like him there.  Unless he’s sleeping, but there’s no reason Marie can’t hold a sleeping Jacques,” she paused for a minute to burp the baby. “I even replicated a dress uniform for Wes.”

“He’s going to be so thrilled.”  Jean-Luc checked the temperature of the tea pot. “We’re in luck, tea’s still warm.”  Beverly put Jacques down again and gave him a rattle to play with while she ate her breakfast. “Oh, and Marie wants to take Jacques tonight for us to ‘celebrate our marriage properly’, as she said.” 

Beverly blushed. “And stay here?” 

“If you’d like. Or,  I can book us a room elsewhere.  We _do_ have the shuttle with us.  We could even go sleep on the yach t if you’d like.” 

“Hmm. I think the yacht so if Jacques needs us, Marie can easily reach us.” 

“I remember how protective you were when Wesley was a baby.  Barely would let me look after him for you and Jack to have dinner together.”  She laughed. “Well, we won’t be short on babysitters for Jacques, I’m sure.  It’s just right now...”  Jean-Luc nodded. “I understand.  I don’t like him out of my sight either.” 

“He’s just so...vulnerable.  I keep worrying that the other Jean-Luc is going to come through a portal and steal him from us.”  Jean-Luc shook his head. “I am certain he will not.  While his DNA and mine would match,  Jacques _isn’t_ his.  And the man hates children more than I used to...he practically looks for excuses to execute Wesley.  And that’s the son of the woman he supposedly loves.” 

Beverly grimaced.  “Poor, poor, Beverly.  Can we rescue her?”  Jean-Luc raised his eyebrows. “And have two of you? What would I do with two of you?  One is enough.”  He leaned over and kissed her and she laughed. “Good.  But...I still don’t like not knowing if she is alright.” 

“I know, me too.”  Jean-Luc finished off his croissant and picked up Jacques. “Right then, son, time for you to have your first tour of the vineyard, I think.  Let your mother have a shower or bath in peace.” 

###

Robert watched his brother approach, baby carrier strapped to his chest and chuckled to himself.  _Who would have ever though my little brother would be a family man?_ He waved to Jean-Luc, who caught up to him quickly.

“Robert.”

“Jean-Luc.  I didn’t want to shout and startle Jacques.” 

“Thanks.  He fell asleep a few minutes ago, but I thought I would come find you anyway.  I was just showing Jacques his legacy.” 

“Ah, three fine Picard boys to carry on our traditions.”   Robert clapped his brother on his back.  “Three?”

“My Rene, your Jacques, and your Wesley.” Jean-Luc grinned. “Wes will be pleased you consider him part of the family.” 

“’Course I do. He’s your son, isn’t he?” 

“ _step_ son.”   Robert shook his head at his younger brother. “I may not know Wes very well, but I’m sure he considers you his father.”  Jean-Luc smiled at his brother before looking down on Jacques. 

“Robert, what am I doing? I don’t know what to do with a baby....”  Robert chuckled. “You think Marie and I knew what to do when Rene came along?” 

“I suppose not.”  Robert placed his hand on Jean-Luc’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “The fact that you’re questioning your ability means you are already an excellent father.” 

“Thanks.”

“Now then, why don’t we find our other sons and see what they are up to?” 

“Rene is probably peppering Wesley with questions about the Academy, and Wesley is suddenly happy there are almost twenty years between him and Jacques.”  Robert chuckled.

“You’re probably right. You were such a pain.” 

“Hey!”  Robert grinned at Jean-Luc. “Kidding, little brother.”

They found the older two boys in the loft of the barn, playing with some kittens.  “Look, Uncle Jean-Luc!  Kittens!” 

“How many?”  Rene shrugged. “I dunno. They keep moving.”  Jean-Luc chuckled. 

“Hey Dad, can we give Mom one of the kittens?”  Jean-Luc raised his eyebrows at his step-son. “Do you think that’s _really_ a good idea with Jacques to look after?  I’m not sure if your mother and I would have time to look after a kitten too.”

“Aw, but Mom loves cats.”  Jean-Luc nodded. “I do too.  Alright,  we’ll give her a kitten.” 

“ _Two_ kittens, Uncle Jean-Luc!” 

“Why two?”

“So they have someone to play with.”  Jean-Luc nodded sagely at his nephew. “I see.  Right, Wes, why don’t you decide which two are for your mother and we’ll make arrangements with the vet. We’ll be staying here for the next week at least and if we return to the _Enterprise_ , we’ll take the kittens with us.”

Jacques opened his eyes and blinked up at his father before scrunching his face up and crying.  Jean-Luc lifted him out of the carrier and held him close to sooth him. “I better get back to the house.  Jacques is probably hungry  or wet.”

“Or both,”  Wesley added.  “Quite.  Wesley, our wedding will be at 1600. Your mother has arranged for a dress uniform for you.” Wesley made a face.  “I know, son. I don’t particularly like them either, but if it’s what your mother wants....” 

Wesley rolled his eyes in response.  “If it’s in my room, I’ll wear it.  Promise.” 

“Good.”

###

Beverly opted to take a bath, and lazed in the warm bubbly water far longer than she should have.  She rinsed her hair under the tap after washing it and put back on the fluffy robe Marie had given her.  She padded downstairs and found Marie busy mixing a cake. “Marie, what are you doing?”

“Making a wedding cake.” 

“You don’t have to.”  Marie nodded at the other woman. “I know.  But I want to.  Now, have you decided how you are celebrating tonight?” 

“We’re going to sleep in the Yacht tonight so if you need us, we’re not too far away.” Marie shook her head. “That’s hardly a celebration.  _Non_.  You should go somewhere special. Leave it with me, and I’ll arrange something.” 

“Marie....”  Marie held up her hand. “I won’t hear of anything else.  I’m doing this for Jean-Luc, too.” 

“How about this – tonight, Jean-Luc and I will spend our ‘wedding night’ in the shuttle.  But you can arrange for a place for us for Monday, after Wesley’s gone back to the Academy. I’d like to spend time with him while we can.”  Marie nodded. “That would be acceptable.  Plus it means I get more time with that lovely baby of yours.” Beverly snorted. “Not so lovely when he wakes up at two in the morning, though.” 

“I remember those days with Rene well.”  Marie frowned. “Sometimes, I wish we had a second.”

“Why didn’t you?”  Beverly sat down at the table in her bathrobe, her original reason for coming downstairs forgotten.  Marie sighed. “Robert was afraid if we had a second son, the same thing that happened between him and Jean-Luc would happen with our children.” 

“But...” 

“I know.”  Beverly gave her sister-in-law  a smile. “You know, Marie.  The boys have reconciled now.  And I’m sure we’ll be around as often as we can with Jacques. Plus Wesley will be around...I think  you should talk to Robert again.  Besides, you might have a little girl.”  Marie gave a wistful smile.  “We _do_ have too many boys in this family, don’t we?”

“We need a girl.” 

“You and Jean-Luc might have another child.”  Beverly grinned. “Maybe.  You know, I had to take my implant out when I started giving myself the lactation hormones...and let’s just say we haven’t exactly been careful.” Marie raised her eyebrows. “Potentially two children under a year old?  You’re a brave woman, Beverly Picard.”  

“Brave, or stupid. Now then, I actually came down to ask if you had a hair dryer?” 

“Under the bathroom sink in the big bathroom.” 

“Thanks.  I’ll be down soon to help you with all this cooking and baking.”

“You can come back down, but I’ll not have the bride making her own cake.”  Beverly shook her head. “Fine, fine.” 

Beverly was upstairs drying her hair when Jean-Luc came back inside with Jacques.  “And how was the young man’s tour of the vineyard?”

“Cut short, I’m afraid. I think the little guy needs a change. Bev upstairs?”

“Getting dressed, I think. I have made arrangements for you and Beverly to have two nights away this week, plus tonight.”  Jean-Luc eyed his sister-in-law. “Let me guess, Beverly did not agree to this?”

“Well, she agreed to tonight in your shuttle and going away on Monday.  I just booked you a room for Monday _and_ Tuesday.  You know Jacques will be fine.  I just want you and Beverly to have a nice honeymoon since this was all thrown at you with no notice. I know you and Beverly would have eventually gotten married and had a proper honeymoon to celebrate.” 

“I’ll see what Beverly says, but she’s very protective over Jacques.” 

“Understandable. Now go get the little one changed and fed. Here, I stuck his bottle in the warmer for you.” 

"Marie, you're a peach."


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where we find that the mirror universe has left its mark on baby Jacques.....

Their small wedding took place in the conservatory, as Beverly hadn’t wanted to go to any trouble.  She just wanted to exchange real marriage vows with Jean-Luc.  Jean-Luc had agreed, though he would have agreed to anything she wanted.  Their vows were traditional and simple as they reaffirmed their promises made to each other.  Halfway through the ceremony, their son began to cry and Beverly laughed as she took the child from Marie and bounced him in her arms.  Jean-Luc leaned over Jacques to kiss Beverly, and then kissed Jacques on the forehead as the celebrant said “I present to you all, Captain and Doctor Picard.” 

The small celebration was in full swing.  Marie had insisted on inviting the rest of the senior staff and Guinan, and they were all enjoying themselves.  Jacques was getting passed around to all of his honorary uncles and aunts until he once again let out a cry.  “Ah, that’s his hungry cry,”  Beverly said, taking the infant from Will.  “You can tell?” She nodded. “Yep. Babies have different cries for different needs.   I can tell when Jacques is hungry, dirty, or tired just from his cries.  “Wow.  I’m impressed, Beverly. I never knew mothers were so intuitive.” 

“It’s not just mothers.  Jean-Luc is getting pretty good at telling what Jacques needs, too.”  Will followed her into the kitchen while she quickly warmed a bottle and then settled down into a chair in the kitchen.  He watched mother and son for a moment before speaking again. “Beverly, you’re glowing. Motherhood suits you.” 

“ _Will_ , I’ve been a mother the entire time you’ve known me.”  Will shrugged. “Yeah, but not to an infant.  I mean, Wesley was practically an adult when I met you.” 

“I see.”  Jean-Luc entered the room and smiled at Beverly.  “How’s he doing?” 

“Almost done, Papa.  You want to burp him?” 

“Sure.”  Jean-Luc took Jacques and Will watched as he sat down in a chair and laid the baby across his legs.  Jean-Luc whispered soothing words to Jacques as he gently thumped his back.  “Wow, Sir.  I never expected to see this side of you.” 

“What side would that be, Number One?”  Will gestured to his commanding officer.  “This, Sir. You’re...well, I’ve never seen you quite so mushy before.” 

Jean-Luc looked up at his second officer. “Yes, and you will _not_ tell the rest of the crew.”  Beverly laughed and leaned over to kiss Jean-Luc.  “Can’t let the rest of the crew know you’re just a big softie when it comes to your son.” 

“Quite.”

###

Jean-Luc passed Beverly a cup of tea as they settled down into the soft leather seating on board the Captain’s yacht that night.  “I’m worried about Jacques.  Are you worried about Jacques?”  Jean-Luc kissed Beverly’s forehead. “He’s fine, love.  We put him to bed, and you know he’ll sleep for a few more hours and Marie or Wesley are perfectly capable of giving him a bottle.  If you’d like, we can set an alarm and go back early in the morning.  Are you going to be like this when we go away for two nights on Monday?”  She shrugged.  “I’ll try not to.”  She stood and held out her hand to her husband.  “You know what will take my mind off of Jacques?” 

“What?”

“Dance with me.  Computer:  play music selection Beverly-54. Volume level, 4.”  Jean-Luc rose and gathered Beverly in his arms. “I think I can do that.”  He kissed her gently as they swayed together.  She kissed him back and she fingered the collar of his dress uniform. “I can’t believe you haven’t changed yet.”

“ _You_ didn’t.”

“I know, but you hate your dress uniform.” 

“Perhaps I was waiting for my wife to take it off me.”  He winked and kissed her deeply.  She grinned against his lips and carefully unclasped his uniform.  “I do like undressing you.” 

They made love slowly.  Jean-Luc was careful to avoid touching Beverly’s breasts even though he was aching to lavish attention on them.  He rolled them over so she was on top and he gripped her hips tightly as Beverly’s orgasm took hold.  Her orgasm took him over the edge, and he soon joined her in climaxing.  Her lips found his. “I love you, Jean-Luc.”

“I love you too, Beverly.” 

Beverly woke up with her breasts aching.  Jean-Luc felt her rise from the bed and watched her walk naked over to the bathroom on the yacht. “Are you alright?”

“I didn’t stimulate my breasts earlier.  They’re aching a bit.”  He wiggled his eyebrows at her and she laughed.  “Down boy.  I’m going to replicate a pump since I left my pump at the house.  I’ll go into the other cabin, go back to sleep.” Jean-Luc shook his head and rose from the bed, reaching for their dressing gowns.  “No, if you’re going to be awake, I might as well sit with you.  Cup of tea?”  She nodded.

Twenty minutes later, and there was a tiny amount of liquid in the pump.  She grinned. “Look, Jean-Luc, it’s working! I made milk!”  Jean-Luc grinned and looked at the small amount of slightly yellow liquid.

“Isn’t it too soon? You said a few weeks?”

“Well, there’s hardly enough to feed the baby with, but this is a good sign.”  She stretched.  “I think we should head back to bed.  I want to be back first thing in the morning to check on Jacques and to spend the day with Wesley before he goes back.” 

“Why don’t you take him riding?”   Beverly snorted. “Have you ever seen our oldest son on a horse?”

“Well...no.” 

“There’s a reason. “  Jean-Luc could only laugh as they got back into bed.

###

Marie had booked them a small cottage just 30 kilometres away from the vineyard.  She would have loved to have treated the couple to a nicer weekend away, but she knew Beverly wouldn’t want to be farther away from Jacques than a quick trip, even with transporters available to whisk her back quickly.

Jacques had been fine without either of his parents for the overnight, but he had only been without them for about ten hours. Their trip would take them away from him for just under forty-eight and Marie knew it would be hard for her new sister-in-law, but she still wanted them to have some time to celebrate their new relationship. 

Marie had known from the way Jean-Luc spoke of Beverly when he visited that the man loved her deeply, and she had been delighted when Jean-Luc had written to tell her they had begun to date a few months ago.  So having a baby thrust into things so early in their relationship had to be a slight strain for the couple.   Even if Beverly had become pregnant right away, they still would have had the months of her pregnancy to prepare for the changes in their lives and relationship.  Marie glanced over at the sleeping baby.  “You might be unexpected, Jacques, but know that your parents love you very much.” 

###

Jean-Luc stoked the fire and wrapped a blanket around him and Beverly against the evening chill.  “Nice little cottage.  Reminds me of your Nana’s house on Caldos.”

“You remember Nana’s house?”  Jean-Luc smiled. “I remember lots of things.”  Beverly smirked. “Do you, now?” 

“Mm-Hmm,”  he leaned over and pressed a kiss to her lips. “Marie gave me a bottle of wine, but I thought you weren’t drinking right now?”

“Now that I’m finally lactating, even though it was a tiny bit, I can have one small glass.”   Jean-Luc grinned. “Excellent.  Shall we?”  Beverly nodded and the couple was soon toasting their marriage and their son.  Jean-Luc  and Beverly were sitting sideways on the sofa, with her back pressed into his chest and she let out a content sigh.  “This is how it should be.”

“Hmm?”

“You and me...we should have done this a long time ago.”  Jean-Luc kissed the top of her head.  “It doesn’t matter.  We’re together now.”  Beverly snuggled closer and took another sip of her wine.  “Good vintage.” 

“Mm,  I’ll let Robert know when we get back.” 

Beverly shifted to get up and then sat back down. “Something wrong?”  Beverly shook her head. “No.  I started to get up to call home to check on Jacques and then decided against it.”  Jean-Luc grinned.  “He’s fine.  What would you like to do tomorrow?”  Beverly wiggled her eyebrows. “Well, it _is_ our honeymoon....” 

Jean-Luc and Beverly enjoyed their time together alone, but they realised they actually missed having Jacques around.  They both had automatically woken up several times in the night, their body clocks already adjusted to Jacques’ needs.  A longer honeymoon would most definitely be part of a family vacation, perhaps with hiring someone to babysit so they would have the occasional evening together. Beverly was already thinking about the tranquil blue water of Pacifica and how fun it would be to take Jacques there to build sandcastles, same as they had when Wesley was young. 

Jean-Luc came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. “Are you ready to go home?”

“Absolutely.”  She handed Jean-Luc her bag and reached for his hand.  “Let’s go.” 

###

Jean-Luc had retrieved Jacques’ evening bottle and paused in the doorway.  Beverly had Jacques against her breast and she was feeding him with a soft smile on her face. “Jean-Luc...it’s working!”  Jean-Luc grinned and rested the bottle on the dresser and came over to press a kiss to her head.  “This is beautiful.  You’re beautiful.”  Beverly had tears in her eyes.  “I never thought I’d be doing this again, but I’m so glad I am.”

“Me too.  I never thought,”  Jean-Luc’s voice caught.  “Oh, Beverly,”  He kissed her and Jacques squirmed.  He chuckled. “Someone needs to learn to share his Maman.”   He smiled at Beverly. “Should I dispose of the bottle?”  Beverly nodded and Jean-Luc slipped out of the room with a smile on his face.

###

When Jacques was four months old, he started crying whenever he was in a room with bright lights.  Thinking this might lead to blindness later, they invited Geordi over for dinner to talk to him about his experiences as a blind child.  Beverly figured if their son became blind, she would want him to have a VISOR like Geordi until he was old enough for implants.  Geordi was in the middle of describing how it felt when his first VISOR was placed over his eyes at the age of five when he suddenly trailed off. 

“Geordi?”  Beverly shot a questioning glance towards her friend.

“Sorry, Beverly.  Captain, do you remember how dark the other ship was?”  Jean-Luc slowly nodded. 

“It was very dark.  I remember trying to find a way to raise the lights in Picard’s quarters.” 

“What if....what if it was dark because they can’t handle bright lights?”  Jean-Luc looked at Beverly.  “Beverly, is there a way to test for this?  Could this be the problem with Jacques? He’s not going blind, he’s just....is there a word?”

“Photophobia.” 

“I thought phobias were fears?” Beverly shrugged. “I guess the eye is afraid of light.” 

“Interesting. Is it curable?”  She nodded. “It should be. Although, difficult with an infant.  We still might have to wait until he’s a little bit older.  In the meantime, we continue as we have been with lowered lights in the nursery and covering his eyes with dark glasses in brighter places.”

Geordi rose from the dinner table. “If you don’t need me anymore, Captain, Doctor, I better get back to engineering. “  Jean-Luc nodded at his chief engineer.  “Yes, of course. Thank you for joining us for dinner.” 

“Can I just go look in on Jacques before I go?”  Beverly nodded. “He might be sleeping, but go ahead.”

After Geordi left, Jean-Luc drew Beverly into his arms.  “I’m sorry.”

“For?”

“I guess I feel like this is my fault.”  Beverly shook her head. “It’s not.  And actually, the fact that he is only half from that universe might help.  But....I’ll need to run some tests.  Jacques won’t like it as Sickbay is always so bright.”  She frowned. 

“Can you do the exam in our quarters?” 

“No, I need some special equipment.  But maybe I could ask the computer to create the same lab in the holodeck but with lowered lights....I’m going to need Geordi’s help again.”  Jean-Luc grinned. “He might not be far.  Picard to La Forge.”

_“La Forge here, Captain.”_

“Geordi, I know you just left, but would you mind returning to  our quarters?  Beverly needs your help with a project.” 

_“I’m just waiting for the turbolift, I can come right back.”_

“Thank you, Geordi.”  The connection closed and Jean-Luc smiled at Beverly.  “He’s on his way back.  Beverly...something _else_ we probably need to talk about...will Jacques develop Shalaft’s Syndrome?” 

“Probably. I mean, he’s _your_ son and you said it passes down through male Picards.” Jean-Luc nodded.  “Can you...”

“Prevent it?  I don’t know.  Maybe.  Of course, if we had become pregnant and knew we were having a boy, I’d have had time to work on something and been able to take foetal samples, but I’ll see what I can do.  But we _do_ know how to fix it, at least.”  Jean-Luc nodded, tight-lipped.  “True, but I’d rather we limit the number of times our son requires surgery....it can’t be easy for you.” 

“No, it’s never easy.  Anytime Wesley....or Jack...or _you_ required my care....”  Jean-Luc reached out and stroked her face gently.  “I’m sorry.  I didn’t know....”  Beverly leaned into his hand.  “I know.  It can’t be helped.  It’s what I signed up for.”  She smiled when the door chime went off. “That’ll be Geordi. Can you...”

“I’ll check on Jacques.  I’m not sure how much help I’ll be designing a holographic sickbay.” 

“Thanks.”

###

Jacques did not enjoy his examination.  “I’m sorry, baby.  I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”  Beverly pressed a kiss to Jacques’ head.  “Mumma knows you don’t like it.  I’m sorry.  I promise, baby, just a little bit longer.” Beverly fastened the straps that would hold Jacques still – one around his little forehead and another around his waist. Jacques tried to twist to free himself and Beverly had tears in her eyes as she ran a finger down his face.  “We’re almost done, sweetheart.  I promise.  Jean-Luc?”

Jean-Luc had been observing with tears of his own as he watched his young son on the table.  He soon walked over and pressed a kiss to Beverly’s temple. “What do you need?”

“Maybe Jacques will calm down if he can hear you or feel you.”  He nodded and dragged a stool over to the table and pressed his hand against Jacques’ chest.  “Papa is here.  Shhhhh....”  He started softly singing a French lullaby from his childhood. Beverly chuckled. “I suppose if he falls asleep, this will be easiest.”

“Does he need his eyes open?”  Beverly shook her head. “No.  He’ll be fine with them shut.  My sensors can see through his eyelids.”  Jean-Luc nodded. “Why not just give him something to sleep?” 

“I guess I could,”  Beverly’s hands went to the straps holding Jacques to the table.  “Why don’t you hold him for now while I calculate how much to use...maybe if we give him a full belly first, too.” 

“Computer: insert a rocking chair suitable for nursing.”  A rocker nearly identical to the one in their quarters appeared. “Thanks,” Beverly took Jacques from Jean-Luc and sat in the plus rocker. “I can’t give you my breasts, but you can calculate the amount of anaesthesia for me.” 

“How?”

“You used to be a scientist. You _do_ remember how mathematics work?” She grinned at her husband as she placed their baby on her breast.  “There’s a formula on the PADD.  It needs Jacques’ weight. I weighed him this morning and that information should be on his file on the computer.  Then, just plug his weight in and it will give us the amount in micrograms. Have you ever made a hypospay up?”  Jean-Luc shook his head.  “Only the pre-made ones from a field medic kit,”  He frowned. “Not sure I’d like my first attempt to be for our son, but I’m not opposed to learning.” 

Beverly nodded.  “It’s alright. I’ll make up the hypo while you burp him.” 

“Deal.”

Beverly pressed the hypospray to her sleeping son’s shoulder. “Ok, that should keep him relaxed.” She placed the straps around Jacques’ waist and forehead once more.  Jean-Luc placed his hand on the baby’s stomach to give him a little comfort while Beverly ran the barrage of tests she needed on his eyes, ears, and brain. 

“Alright, you can remove the straps.  He’ll stay asleep from the medicine for another few hours, long enough for me to get this data analysed.”  Jean-Luc nodded and placed the baby in a bassinet the holodeck had been programmed with.  He rested his hands on Beverly’s shoulder and gave her a rub.  “What can I do to help?”

“Mm, don’t stop doing that.” 

“I can manage that,” he pressed a kiss behind Beverly’s ear.  “Mm, but if you keep doing that, you might distract me on figuring out the best course of action for our son.” 

“Sorry.” Beverly softly smiled and brought her hand up to her shoulder to clasp his. “It’s fine. I know this would be easier if it wasn’t our son.” 

###

Jean-Luc loved watching Beverly work.  She would get so focussed on a task and sometimes she would stick her tongue between her teeth while she was studying something. 

She took notes on paper to transfer them to a PADD later.  He had asked her once about it and she had said it was easier since she would then only transfer the relevant notes.  Occasionally she would use the recording feature of her PADD.  Most of the instruments in the room were created by the holodeck with the exception of her medkit and her PADD, so she had to make sure she recorded everything. She brushed some hair out of her face and smiled. “I think I can fix Jacques.”

“How?”

“Well, I’ll need to grow him new corneas first, so I’ll need a DNA sample from each of us to ensure it would be a genetic match. Normally, I would use the patient’s own DNA, but since there’s something slightly off in one chromosome due to the other universe, I don’t want to risk Jacques developing the same problem later in life.” 

“Wouldn’t it make sense to fix his DNA?”  Beverly shook her head. “I mean, I _could_.  But I think this sight issue is the only defect.  I would have to do further analysis to find out if there was anything else lurking in the other DNA, but....” she trailed off to a whisper.  “Is that ethical?”

“If there’s something _wrong_ isn’t it your duty to repair it?”

“Repair, yes.  But if the only reason would be to make it so Jacques no longer contained any DNA residue from his original mother...” 

“I see what you mean.  But, you said you and her are a perfect match and Jacques is absolutely fifty percent you?”  She nodded. “He is, but for this tiny defect that most scans wouldn’t even detect.” 

“Alright.  If Jacques _wasn’t_ our son and he was just a patient, what would you recommend to the parents?” 

Beverly pursed her lips.  “Good question. I would present all sides to them and allow them to make the decision on their own. Once we repair his eyes, there honestly _isn’t_ – at least as far as I can tell – anything wrong with his non-our universe DNA.  The only reason to repair the defect would be if he was at risk of developing problems as he aged or a risk of passing on the defect to his offspring....but that’s at least twenty years down the line.  It’s something we can tell Jacques about when he is older and give him the choice to have it repaired.” 

Jean-Luc nodded. “Then, it’s decided?  We won’t try to repair his DNA, only his eyes?”  Beverly nodded. “Yes.”

“What about the Shalaft’s?”  Beverly sighed.  “It would take much longer for me to isolate the gene that carries it and then I would have to develop a way to shut it off.  I think we’re just going to have to deal with it when it happens.  You said you were three?”  Jean-Luc nodded. “Well, I suppose that gives me a few years to try to come up with a way to shut it off.”

“Can you take the DNA samples now?”  Beverly shook her head. “Not in the holographic lab.  We’ll have to go to sickbay.  Maybe Deanna is free to stay with Jacques.”  Beverly pressed her comm badge. “Picard to Troi.”

_“Troi here.”_

“Deanna, the Captain and I need to go to sickbay this afternoon, but with Jacques’ light sensitivity I don’t want to take him with us.  I was wondering if you had any appointments this afternoon?”

_“None that can’t be cancelled or rescheduled. I’ll be in your quarters around 1400?”_

“Perfect. Picard out.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Weirdly, I thought I had posted this chapter, then I went to look in my file and realised I had only written half of it!

“I thought you and the Captain were on leave?”  Deanna eagerly took her honorary nephew in her arms and Jacques giggled. 

“We are, but we need to go to the lab in Sickbay to try to fix Jacques’ eyes.”  Deanna nodded.  “Well, I cancelled the rest of my appointments for the afternoon, so take as long as you want.”  Beverly nodded at her friend.

“Thanks, Dee.  We had engineering install a fridge/freezer, so there’s a bottle already made up in the fridge and more in the freezer if he gets hungry. Just put it in the warmer on the counter and the warmer will ding when it’s the right temperature.”

“Got it.”  Beverly pressed a kiss to Jacques’ head followed by Jean-Luc who then lightly poked his son in the nose. “Be good for Auntie Dee,” he turned to Deanna. “We’re leaving the lights low throughout our quarters so it doesn’t irritate Jacques, but if you need a brighter light to read, please make sure he’s in his bedroom with the door closed first.” 

Deanna could only grin at the nervous parent. “Of course, Sir.  Sir, why don’t you take Beverly for a meal before returning?  I think I can handle getting this one into bed for you tonight.” 

“That would be nice.  I suppose we’re not giving the chef much to do lately. Thank you, Counsellor.” 

“In that case, you’ll need to know what his bedtime routine is.  We always have a bath, followed by a story, then I feed him and we put him to bed.  His pyjamas are-“

“Beverly, we’ll be fine.  Go and after you get your work done, have a little fun with your husband.”  Beverly smiled at her friend. "Thanks.”

###

Beverly anxiously spliced together their DNA in the petri dish and Jean-Luc rubbed his hands down her arms. “I had hoped the next time we combined our DNA it would be more fun than this,”  he quipped and Beverly swatted at him. “Cheeky. Right.  Now I just need to tell these cells what to do.”

“Er, how?”

“If I told you, you wouldn’t need me,”  Beverly winked and tapped a few things into the computer.  “There. The cells will start dividing and form into four-month-old corneas for replacement....” She trailed off and covered her mouth.  “I’m not looking forward to that surgery.” 

Jean-Luc moved her hand from her mouth to grasp  both her hands in his. “I know.  But at least we know Jacques will be under the care of the best physician in Starfleet.”

“Who?”

“You.”  He leaned over and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips as she blushed. “Thank you for your confidence.  We probably _should_ prepare ourselves in case of a failure....”

“What are the odds?”

“There’s a very small chance Jacques’ DNA will simply re-write and give him the same problem again, and an even smaller one that he might wind up blind.” 

“Alright. Well...if it doesn’t work, we can try again or you can do that DNA manipulation you mentioned this morning. And if our son is blind...well, he’ll have Mister La Forge as a mentor.” 

“I suppose you’re right.  And being blind isn’t the end of the world, just look at Geordi.”  Jean-Luc moved to wrap his arms around her.  “Ready to have dinner?  I contacted Joseph, and he’s preparing a lovely meal for us tonight.”  Beverly smiled.  “I look a wreck.” 

“You look lovely,”  he kissed her again.  “But if you want to freshen up, we can return to our quarters first.”  Beverly shook her head. “No, I can use the bathroom in my office. If I see Jacques, I might not want to leave again and I don’t want Dee to think I don’t trust her.  Want to join me for a shower?”  She winked and Jean-Luc went weak in the knees. 

###

A  hour later, they entered the dining room in fresh uniforms.  Beverly was still limiting her wine consumption since she was still feeding Jacques, so Jean-Luc had asked for a bottle of non-alcoholic wine to be replicated instead.  Beverly smiled at the spread laid out in front of them. “Wow.  Joseph pulled out all the stops.”

“I think he was bored.  I mean, he does cook for the rest of the senior staff, but let’s face it, that’s not often, either. Not with Ten Forward and the other options.” 

“Hmm, true.  So, what’s our delicacy tonight?” Jean-Luc smiled at his wife. “I remembered you’ve been eating a lot of beef lately, so it’s Boeuf Bourguignon.”  Beverly blushed. “Sorry.  I guess it’s the accelerated hormones I had to give myself at the beginning. They’ve given me some strange cravings, I must admit.”  Jean-Luc leaned over and kissed her. “I don’t mind.”

They enjoyed their romantic meal, topped off with an impressive chocolate mousse – Beverly’s favourite.  Jean-Luc held out his spoon to her and she chuckled. “If anyone else saw how sappy we are...” 

“Well,” Jean-Luc said, letting her lick the chocolate off his spoon, “it’s a good thing we’re in here alone.” 

“I should stop by Sickbay and check on the progress of our corneas before we go home. Once I know the growth rate, I can calculate when they will be ready and we can do the surgery....and I’ll have to talk to Alyssa and Selar.  I’d like them both in the room. Alyssa because I’ll need a nurse trained in paediatrics, and Selar just in case I can’t perform the surgery on our son.”  Jean-Luc nodded. “And me?”

“Well, I wouldn’t _normally_ have the parents in the room during the surgery, but since I’ll be there...as long as you don’t ask questions and stay out of the way, I don’t see why not.”  He smiled. “I’ll save my questions for later.  Jacques seemed to quiet down when he felt my hand pressed against his stomach, maybe I can do that again?”  Beverly nodded. “I think we can find a place for you. Let’s go check on things.”

###

They entered their quarters where the lights were still dim, but slightly brighter than they were before and Deanna was curled up on the sofa with a few PADDs around her. Will Riker had joined her, and he was sitting opposite her in a chair.  Jean-Luc took in the PADDs and grinned. “Taking advantage of the quiet and working on crew reviews?”

“Yes, sir. When Dee told me she was babysitting for you, I thought it would be an excellent chance to get this done with few interruptions.” 

“...and you just enjoy getting to hold Jacques. I _know_ you, Will Riker!”  Beverly laughed at her friend and he grinned back. “I can’t tell a lie.  He’s simply adorable.” 

“Thank you,” Beverly said moving over to the nursery door.  “Computer: Lower lights to twenty percent.”  When the lights dimmed, Beverly opened the door to peek in on the sleeping baby.  Jacques was fast asleep, wrapped in his special sleeping bag.  She kissed the tip of her finger and touched it gently to his cheek before leaving the room once more.  Once the door was shut, she gave the computer the command to raise the lighting once more.

“Have you figured out what’s wrong with his eyes?”  Will gratefully accepted the tumbler of Whisky from his Captain, who handed Deanna a glass of wine and handed Beverly a glass mug of tea.  Jean-Lu settled into the sofa and Beverly sat next to him . Will grinned when she rested against him and the Captain wrapped an arm around his wife.  It was nice to see him relaxed. 

“Yes.  Basically, because of his other universe DNA he developed the same aversion to light those humans suffer from.”

“Is it fixable?”  Beverly nodded. “I was able to splice together our DNA to clone corneas for him.  They should be ready in a few days.  It’s _not_ the kind of surgery I really want to perform on my son, but I can’t have him suffering.”

“If it was anyone else’s child, what would you say?”  Beverly pursed her lips for a minute.”Honestly, I would give them the options.  Surgery now which should fix the issue,  or daily eye drops to make it manageable until he’s older, but giving a baby eye drops daily would be uncomfortable for both parent and child.  I would, naturally, caution the parents on surgery on someone so young but ultimately, it would be the parent’s decision...and Jean-Luc and I have decided I will perform the surgery.”  Will’s eyes widened as he sipped his drink. “Are you sure that’s a good idea, Bev?  Isn’t there a conflict of interest since he’s your son?” 

“There is,”  she nodded, “But Will, we don’t have any other options. To take Jacques to a Starfleet facility would be opening him up to examination and scrutiny and-“ Will held up his hand. “I understand. I’m sorry, Beverly.”

“Captain, how do you feel about all of this?”  Deanna turned her eyes to her Captain and Jean-Luc groaned. “You know how I feel.” 

“Does Beverly?”  Jean-Luc nodded.  “I keep nothing from my wife, counsellor.  Beverly knows I’m nervous for the procedure, but I think _any_ parent would be nervous when their child has to undergo surgery.”  Deanna nodded and finished her glass of wine.  “Well, unless you still need me, I think I might head to bed.  Beverly, will I see you tomorrow morning to work out?” 

“Yes. I want to look in on the corneas first though, and if they’re ready, I’ll have to skip it because I want this done as soon as possible.”  Deanna nodded and began to gather her PADDs.  Will drained his glass and helped to gather things up. 

“I’ll walk you to your quarters.” 

“Thanks.” Will turned to Jean-Luc. “Will I see you tomorrow, Sir?”

“I’m still on leave, Will.”

“Understood. Goodnight, Captain, Beverly.” 

“Night Will. Night Dee. Thanks again.” The door slid shut behind them and Beverly shifted into Jean-Luc’s lap.  “I really _am_ worried.”  Jean-Luc kissed her temple. “I know you are.  I am, too.  But I have every faith in you.  Ready to head to bed?” 

“What time is it?”

“Twenty-three hundred.”  Beverly nodded. “Jacques won’t be up until around 0100.  See if we can get some sleep. I’m exhausted.”

###

When Jacques woke that night, Beverly wondered if his eyes were getting worse. Jean-Luc had gone to the nursery to check on Jacques and when he didn’t calm down, he brought him into their bedroom and Beverly fed him in the dim light.  She pressed a soft kiss to her son’s head. “I’m sorry, baby.  I promise, we’ll get this taken care of soon.”  Beverly couldn’t help but cry when Jean-Luc took Jacques back to his room and he held her close in bed while she cried. 

“Jean-Luc, what if...what if I can’t fix this?”  Jean-Luc kissed the back of her head. “You’ll fix him. I _know_ you will.”

“But what if...”

“So we’ll try something new.  But Beverly, you’ve never doubted yourself as a doctor before, why now?”  Beverly rolled over in bed to face him . “I don’t know.  Sorry.” 

“Shh, don’t be.  Cry if you need to.  I love you.”

“Yeah, I love you too.” 

###

Beverly and Jean-Luc woke up at when the klaxon for a red alert sounded.  “What’s going on?”  Beverly groggily asked as they each jumped out of bed and began dressing in their uniforms.  “Your guess is as good as mine,” Jean-Luc tapped his comm badge. “Picard to Bridge.”  Nothing.  He shared a look with Beverly.  “I better head to the bridge to see what’s going on....” he trailed off. “We haven’t discussed yet what to do with Jacques if we’re both working since we’ve both been on leave.” 

“I guess...I can take him,”  Beverly picked up the baby sling that would strap Jacques to her back.  “I can keep him strapped to me while I work.” 

“No, let me take him.  You’ll be dealing with injuries and all sorts and don’t want to be worrying about Jacques.” Jean-Luc reached for the sling and Beverly managed a small smile. “And if he’s hungry? Honestly, Jean-Luc.  I understand you want to be involved, and I’m more than willing to let you do things for Jacques, but the simple fact is I have the milk. If we got separated for some reason, at least we know Jacques would still be able to eat.”  Jean-Luc leaned over and kissed her. “Alright.  What about his eyes?” 

“We have his glasses.  I can’t dim the lights in all of sickbay but I can in my office.  You can’t dim the lights on the bridge, can you?”

“I _am_ the Captain.”    Beverly rolled her eyes. “I’ll come with you to the bridge. People might be injured and need my assistance.  Selar can handle sickbay. Jacques can stay in the Ready Room.” 

“Alright, let’s go.”

Jacques was screaming by the time Beverly and Jean-Luc entered the nursery.  Jean-Luc grabbed the bag they carried around the ship with supplies and Beverly placed the dark glasses on Jacques before getting him settled in his sling against her breast where he latched on.  Jean-Luc grinned. “Food on the go?”

“It’ll calm him down.  No one can see what he’s doing in the sling.”

“Good thinking, let’s go.”

###

The Turbolifts were out of order when they got to them. “Jeffries Tubes it is.”  Beverly grimaced but quickly converted Jacques’ sling into a backpack and strapped him to her back. “Impressive.” 

“It’ll be easier if he’s on my back climbing and crawling around. Abandon his bag if you need to.”  Jean-Luc raised his eyebrows at his wife and used the handles on the bag to convert it into a backpack. “I can be resourceful, too.”  She rolled her eyes again. “Come on, we shouldn’t waste time.”  Beverly began climbing and Jean-Luc attempted to entertain Jacques by singing to him while he followed. 

By the time they got to the  bridge, ten minutes had passed since they had been woken by the noise and the corridors were fairly empty as people had already rushed to their stations or were staying in their quarters as per procedure.  Unless the order to abandon ship was given, non-essential and non-senior staff were instructed to remain where they were during an emergency.  Fortunately, the door onto the Bridge from the corridor opened and Jean-Luc and Beverly strode onto the bridge, Beverly already moving towards the Lieutenant laying on the floor. 

“Number One. Report.”  Will Riker rose from the Captain’s center seat for him before speaking and Jean-Luc waved his hand. “We’re being fired upon by an unidentified ship.”

“An _unidentified ship_?” 

“Yes, Sir.”

“Mister Data?”  Data turned around from his position, “The ship’s structure do not match anything in the ship’s database or my own.” 

“Have we hailed them?”

“No response, Sir.”  Jean-Luc frowned.  “Evasive manoeuvres. Continue to hail them. Fire back only if necessary.”  He glanced over at Beverly, who was tending to a burn on the Lieutenant’s chest with Jacques asleep on her back.  “What happened here?”

“Panel exploded, Sir.  Lieutenant Unif took the brunt of it.” 

“The explosion fused part of her uniform to her chest. She’ll need sickbay, but it’s not urgent. I gave her something for the pain.  Have medics been called?”

“Shipwide communication seems to be out. We’re only on auxiliary for the emergency channel.”  Jean-Luc frowned, but knew his officers had it under control. 

The ship rocked with a hit.  “Starboard side, Sir. They’re aiming at the nacelle.” 

“Shields, Mister Worf?”

“Sixty percent, Sir.”  Jean-Luc nodded. 

“Target their weapons to disable, only-“  Will sheepishly grinned at the Captain. “Sorry, Sir.”

“No, proceed.  That’s exactly what I would have said.”  Jean-Luc retreated to his chair and Beverly adjusted the sling to wear the sleeping baby on her front and took the seat next to Jean-Luc’s.  He reached across for her hand and gave it a squeeze before speaking in a low tone. “If we have to evacuate, I want you and Jacques to immediately board the yacht.”  She shot a look over at her husband who added “And I promise t be right behind you as soon as I’m sure everyone else is off.”  Beverly nodded.

The conflict continued for ten more tense minutes and then a klaxon sounded again. “ _Simulation ended.”_

“Simulation?”  Jean-Luc glanced at his first officer who once again, sheepishly grinned. “A drill, Sir.”

“Why was I not informed?” 

“You reminded me last night you were on leave.  I had Data plan a drill to ensure we all knew what to do in the event we did not have our Captain and Chief Medical Officer available, but...”  Beverly grinned. “He was out of bed the minute the red alert started. Sorry, Commander.  Can’t take him off the bridge unless we leave the ship.”

“Yes, well...good job, everyone.  But what about Unif?” 

“Unexpected.  We didn’t expect the panel to really blow up like that.”  Jean-Luc nodded. “Get her to sickbay.  I believe the doctor and I will be returning to our quarters. I assume the turbolifts are unlocked now?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good, because it _really_ wasn’t fun crawling through the tubes with Jacques on my back!”  Bevely shot a mock glare at Will. “You really should have told us you were holding a drill.”

“Sorry.  I’ll make sure  you are informed in the future.” 

When they entered the turbolift, Jean-Luc offered to take Jacques from Beverly and she gratefully handed the baby over. “On the other hand, my love, we managed to handle a crisis with Jacques and kept him safe.”

“True,”  Beverly leaned against Jean-Luc’s shoulder. “But now I want to sleep, and I know Jacques will be awake again soon.” 

“Get some more sleep when we get back to our quarters. I’ll get Jacques settled in his crib and if he wakes, I’ll bring him in to you for feeding.”  Beverly yawned. “Too bad you can’t just latch him on for me so I can stay sleeping.” 

Jean-Luc chuckled as the turbolift stopped on their deck.  “If I’m touching your breasts, my love, I don’t think it will be so Jacques can eat.” 

###

Beverly felt queasy when she woke up.  She was sure it had to do with the pending surgery she would be performing on her son, but she asked the replicator for some plain crackers and a peppermint tea instead of her usual coffee. 

“You alright, Bev?”

“Just a little nausea.  I think I’m nervous for the surgery.  I felt this way before when I’ve had to perform surgery on you.”

“Sorrry.” 

“Don’t be.  It’s because I love you so much,”  Beverly leaned down and kissed Jean-Luc.  “What are your plans for the day?”

“Nothing urgent.  I have some reports to go over but I thought I would stay here so Jacques didn’t need to leave while you were out.  Why?” 

“Just hoping the corneas are ready today.  I’m going to go check on them before I head to meet Deanna in the gym.   I wish you could take Jacques swimming.  He loved the pool, but I think it’s too bright and the chlorine would upset his eyes.”  Beverly frowned. If the surgery didn’t work, Jacques’ entire life would be full of denying him the chance to do things.  Jean-Luc leaned across the table and squeezed her hand. “We’ll take him after the surgery.”  Beverly nodded and finished her tea before rising. “I’m going to give Jacques his breakfast, then go to Sickbay, then the gym.  I’ll let you know how the corneas are doing.”

###

_“Counsellor Troi to Captain Picard.”_

“Go ahead, Counsellor.  If you’re wondering where Beverly is, she must have gotten absorbed in something she found in her lab,”  Jean-Luc gently tickled his son under his chin while he spoke.

 _“No, Sir.  Actually...Beverly fainted.”_ Jean-Luc sat up from the floor mat he was lounging on with Jacques. “She fainted?”

 _“Yes. We were doing Yoga.”_ In the background, Jean-Luc could hear Beverly _“I’m fine, Jean-Luc. Honestly.  It was just a sudden change in position.  The blood must have rushed from my head. I’m_ fine _.”_

“Beverly, I’d really prefer it if you at least humoured me and had Doctor Selar scan you just to make sure.”

 _“Fine, but I’m changing out of this outfit first. I am_ not _walking through the halls in a pair of too tight yoga pants and sports bra!”_

“Tight?”  Jean-Luc questioned. He had watched Beverly request her size from the replicator before she left that morning. _“The replicator must have malfunctioned.”_

“Jacques and I will meet you in Sickbay.” He could practically hear Beverly’s eyes rolling. _“Fine. Picard out.”_

###

Jean-Luc rushed into Sickbay and dashed to Beverly’s side, who immediately reached for Jacques and held him close.  “So, are you alright?”

“I will be,”  Beverly pressed a kiss to the top of Jacques head and when she looked up, Jean-Luc could tell she had been crying.  She let out a chuckle.  “I don’t know how I feel right now.”

“Oh...kay.”  Jean-Luc shot her a puzzled look. “Sit next to me.” 

“You said you’d be fine?”  Jean-Luc  climbed onto the biobed next to Beverly and she smiled.  “Relatively speaking.”

“What’s...what’s wrong?”  Jean-Luc reached out and gently cupped her cheek, worried that there was something big wrong with his wife. Jacques began to fuss, and Beverly automatically opened her uniform and began to feed him.  She looked down at Jacques and smiled. “Let’s just say that you won’t be getting _these_ back anytime soon.” 

Jean-Luc looked at her, bewildered. “I don’t understand.”

“Jean-Luc, I’m pregnant.  We’re going to have another baby.”


	9. Chapter 9

“A baby?  But we...have one.”  Beverly couldn’t help but laugh at the confused look on Jean-Luc’s face.

“Yes, we have one, but we’re having another.  Remember when I told you taking out my implant to promote lactation and the hormones might increase our chances and we decided it didn’t matter?”  Jean-Luc slowly nodded.  Beverly gestured towards her abdomen. “Well, it mattered.”

“How far?”

“Would you believe three months?  I just never suspected and had excuses for all of the symptoms.”  Jacques had finished eating and Jean-Luc reached for the baby to gently burp him.  “Wow.”

“Yeah, wow.  Are we...are we ready for two babies?” 

“ _Two_?!  We’re having twins?”  Beverly shook her head. “I meant Jacques and this one. But good to know where you’re at.” 

“Sorry. It’s just....wow.” 

“Ladies and Gentlemen, the Captain of our flagship.  Is that all you can say? Wow?”

“It’s a lot to take in.”  He held Jacques in his arms.  “But...I’m happy.  Are you?”  Beverly nodded. “I am.  I mean, I was hoping we might get the chance to have another, but not until Jacques was a little older....I mean, we’ll have two babies under the age of two.  Jacques will barely be a year old when this one is born!”  Jean-Luc wiggled his eyebrows at his wife.  “I’m just that good.” 

She rolled her eyes. “I should have put an implant in once the lactation started.  I don’t know why I didn’t.” 

“But it wouldn’t have mattered. You said you’re three months along.  Jacques is barely four months old, and he arrived when he was three weeks...” 

“True.  Guess we were just destined to have a baby together, Jean-Luc.”  Beverly frowned. “Starfleet is going to have kittens.” 

“Hmm, guess it was a bit of foreshadowing when Rene wanted to give you two kittens.” 

“What?”

“Don’t you remember? Rene wanted to give you a kitten, then said he wanted to give you two, but we decided to leave them in La Barre for now.”  Beverly laughed. “I _do_ remember!  Perhaps Rene just knew we’d have two small children.  Maybe he’s prophetic.” 

“Doubt it.” 

“Right then, young man,”  Beverly took Jacques and slid off the biobed. “Your new corneas are almost ready.” 

“Will it be safe for you to do the surgery with the baby?”  Beverly rolled her eyes. “Yes, it will be fine.  If we put Jacques down, I can show you a scan of the baby.  Want to see?”  Jean-Luc nodded and Beverly moved towards the small nursery within Sickbay. “Where are you going?”

“Putting Jacques in one of the cribs in here for now.  It will be too bright while I do the scan.” 

Jean-Luc stared at the screen and the small “bean”.  “That’s our baby?”

“Yeah.”  Jean-Luc leaned over and kissed her deeply. “I love you.” 

“I love you, too.” 

“So...now what? I know we faked all the paperwork for Jacques, but what do we need to do?”  He reached for her hands and gave them a squeeze.  “Well....I’m on Maternity leave until Jacques turns one and the baby will be due about a month later.”

“It doesn’t make sense for you to come back to work for a month, especially if you’ll be eight months pregnant.”  Beverly sighed. “I love my job.”

“I know,” Jean-Luc moved a hand to tuck a piece of her hair behind her ear. “I’ll support you no matter what you want to do, as long as you are medically able to.”  Beverly nodded.

“I’m concerned about my position.”  Jean-Luc raised an eyebrow. Beverly slid off the exam table and began to redress. “Can I still be your Chief Medical Officer if I’m taking two years off back to back to have maternity leave?”  Jean-Luc reached for her hand.

 “Well, I won’t dismiss you, but I suppose it will depend on what Command says.”  Beverly frowned.  Speaking with command meant speaking with Admiral Nechayev, who already was upset with the pair for their marriage not being reported right away. 

“What if I work half days?”

“What, now?  What about having maternity leave with Jacques?”  Beverly sighed.

“I _want_ to spend time with Jacques, especially since we’ll now have a second baby, but I just worry about my position.  What if I return to work now for half days, then take maternity leave again when this one is due and then return back to half days when this baby is around the age Jacques is now?” 

“What if we take sabbaticals?  We could leave the ship, return to Earth, and take a two-year sabbatical.  Neither one of us would lose our position on the ship, and we would return when our youngest is just over a year old?”  Beverly pondered Jean-Luc’s suggestion. 

“That _could_ work....but is that what you’d want to do? Spend two years away from your ship?”  Jean-Luc tugged Beverly towards him and kissed her gently. “For you? For our children? Anything. Plus, we’ll be closer to Wesley, too.” Beverly nodded.

“We’ll consider all our options.  First, we need to tell Wesley, and the rest of the Senior Staff...then Command.”  Beverly grimaced.  Jean-Luc grinned.  He could picture what Alynna Nechayev would be saying to him.  Something about not keeping it in his pants, he was sure.

###

Beverly wanted to cry as she fed Jacques before his surgery.  Her plans were for him to fall asleep naturally after feeding, and then she would administer the anaesthetic.  Alyssa Ogawa, her head nurse, would be on hand to get Jacques prepped fully for surgery while she changed into her surgical scrubs.  Jean-Luc would be changing into his own set of scrubs, too, so he could be in the room during the operation. It was against protocol to allow parents in the room, but then again, it was probably against protocol for Beverly to perform the surgery on their son.  The only other doctor Beverly would have trusted was her old friend and mentor, Doctor Quaice, who had recently retired.   Jean-Luc was nervous both for Jacques and for Beverly, but he also knew Beverly was a good doctor and wouldn’t perform the surgery if she felt she was unable to, or if being in the surgical suite would cause harm to the baby – either or both of them.

Beverly kissed Jacques’ head before handing him to Jean-Luc, who gently burped him and gave him a kiss of his own.  Alyssa Ogawa smiled at the parents.  In the past few months, she had gotten to know her Captain better than she had before and she had discovered his softer side when it came to Jacques and Beverly.  Alyssa wondered what he would be like once the second baby -  the one Beverly would be giving birth to – arrived.  Alyssa was only one of two of Beverly’s staff who knew about Jacques’ origins, and it was simply out of necessity because obviously, if Beverly had given birth, she needed a doctor and nurse present.  The rest of the Sickbay crew assumed Beverly hadn’t revealed her pregnancy, and they believed the story that he had arrived early. 

Jean-Luc pressed a kiss to Beverly’s forehead.  “You ready?”

“If I say no, what would you do?”  He smiled. “I know what you mean. Emotions aside, are you ready from a medical standpoint?”  She nodded.

“Absolutely.  The new corneas are perfect.  Like I said, I wouldn’t _usually_ perform this kind of surgery until the child was older, but given the situation Jacques is in, we don’t really have a choice.”  Jean-Luc nodded. 

“Understandable.  I just hope this is his only genetic surprise from that other place.”

“Me too.  I need to change into my surgical scrubs.  There’s a set for you, too.”  He wiggled his eyebrows. 

“Can we change together?”  Beverly rolled her eyes.  “No time for that. Later.”  He gave her a deep kiss.

“I’ll hold you to that.”

###

The delicate procedure took barely any time as far as Beverly was concerned, but Jean-Luc felt like it had taken ages.  Alyssa wrapped Jacques’ head in gauze and Jean-Luc frowned. “How long will he have to have his eyes covered like that? You know he’s not going to like that when he wakes up.” 

“Not for long,  it’s only until we get back to our quarters where the lights can be dimmed once more.”

“So, the procedure didn’t work?”  Jean-Luc’s face fell.  Beverly was quick to reassure him.

“It worked, as far as I can tell.  But I don’t want to instantly expose him to the harsh lighting of Sickbay.  If we’re lucky, he’ll stay sleeping until we get home and then I will remove the bandages and we’ll slowly raise the lighting in our quarters over the next few days to see how he adjusts.”  Jean-Luc nodded and glanced down at their son.

 “I hate to think that he’ll have to go through surgery again in a few years to deal with the Shalaft’s...and I _really hate_ the thought that if we have another boy, he’ll inherit the disease as well.”

“I know,” Beverly reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze.  “Jacques will be sound asleep for a while longer and I need to get out of these scrubs.”  Jean-Luc wiggled his eyebrows at his wife.

“Care to share a shower with me?”

“No.”  Jean-Luc frowned and Beverly laughed. “I want to take a bath with you.  Book the holodeck and find that whirlpool program?” 

“What about Jacques?”

“We’ll ask the holodeck for a crib for him. He’ll sleep and be fine.”

“And whirlpools are safe in your condition?”  Jean-Luc gave Beverly a sceptical look.  She chuckled.

“Jean-Luc.  I’m thirteen weeks pregnant.  I’ve used the whirlpool program several times.  The key is not making the water too hot and not using the jets for more than ten minute intervals.  We’ll be fine.”  Jean-Luc sheepishly grinned.

“Sorry.”

“Are you going to be like this for the next six months?  Almost feel relieved for the other Beverly that you weren’t around!” Her face turned to a frown. “I don’t mean that.  I...”  Jean-Luc placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

 “I know.  Trust me, I know.  I would be lying if I said I didn’t think about Beverly from that universe on an almost daily basis...whenever Jacques hits a milestone.  I love that you have embraced him as your son and that he and I have you in our lives, but...”

“You wish she was here, too.”

“I do. Very much.”

###

After assurances that he couldn’t hurt the baby, Jean-Luc made tender love to his wife in the bath.  “I love you.”

“I love you, too.  Where did that come from?”  Jean-Luc kissed Beverly’s shoulder. “What? Can’t I tell my wife and mother of my children that I love her?”  Beverly smiled.  “From zero to three in less than six months. You ok with this?” 

He grinned. “Honestly, I’ve considered Wesley my son for years. You have to have known.” 

“I had an inkling.  I remember when you had to have your heart replaced and I wasn’t here and Wesley went with you to the Starbase for his exam.  Do you know how nervous he was for travelling with you?  Naturally, I couldn’t tell him _why_ you were going there with him and he thought you didn’t trust him to fly the shuttle!”  Jean-Luc chuckled.

“Then I told him to get on with it and I’d be in the back. I bet he was shocked.”  Beverly’s face turned sober for a moment. 

“Did I tell you how sorry I was that I wasn’t there to perform the surgery and _she_ had to do it?”  Jean-Luc leaned forward and kissed her gently.

“I know. I wanted you to be performing it, too,  but it was apparently too urgent to return to Earth to see you.” 

Beverly nodded. “It was. I read the report. Apparently the defect was detected suddenly and if it wasn’t replaced immediately....”  She trailed off and scooped up some water and let it run through her fingers. 

“I know.  I’m sorry.  I wish...”  Beverly raised her finger and pressed it to his lips.

“Don’t.  You can’t change your past.”  From his crib in the corner of the holodeck, Jacques began to whine softly.  Beverly stood in the tub and climbed out to wrap a fluffy robe around herself before picking up the baby.  “Shh,  it’s alright.”  She layed him on the changing table and removed his sleepsuit and diaper before carrying him over to the large tub and passing Jean-Luc his son. 

“It’s ok for him to be in here?” 

“It’s just a large warm swimming pool. But no jets with the baby.”  Beverly climbed back in and laughed at Jacques as he slapped his fists in the water.  “You know, it’s not too early to teach him how to swim.”

“At four months old?  Surely not?”  Beverly grinned. 

“Look at him.  Watch him trying to kick around.  I wouldn’t let go of him, but he’s obviously loving it.”   Jean-Luc rested Jacques on his palms and watched as the baby kicked at the water.  He smiled at his wife.

“So he does.  Well, then, Master Jacques, I suppose we better enrol you in swimming lessons when we’re back in La Barre.” 

“So we’re taking sabbaticals?”  Beverly looked at her husband hopefully.  He knew how much being CMO of the _Enterprise_ meant to her, but he also knew she would sacrifice it for their family if she needed to.  Likewise, he was more than prepared to give up his captaincy if it was required.  He smiled. 

“I think that’s going to be our best option to keep our positions for sure.  We just have to decide when we want it to start and end.”  Beverly nodded.

“I think I _will_ work in Sickbay a few hours each day. I can easily set Jacques up in a playpen in the office.”

“Or the Ready room, my love.  I can always take him with me, too.”  She smiled.

“I’d like to see that.  You, in the center chair, burping the baby. Besides, he needs me for his food right now, so...”  He leaned over and kissed her and Jacques squealed, making her laugh.  “Oh, my baby boy. Come here,”  she took Jacques from Jean-Luc and cuddled him against her.  Jean-Luc smiled as she began to feed him. 

“I’m never getting those back, am I?” 

“Nope.”

###

Jacques passed his six-month milestone and Beverly was concerned.  Jacques was _fine_ , but he hadn’t grown much since his four-month check up.  She looked at the PADD with his chart and sighed.

“What’s wrong, Bev? Are Jacques’ eyes alright?”  Beverly squeezed Jean-Luc’s arm.

“His eyes are perfect.  I’m just concerned that he hasn’t grown much in the last two months.  Most babies go through a few growth spurts between four and six months...I’m worried there’s something wrong with my milk.”  She frowned and Jean-Luc wrapped an arm around her.

“Can you test it?”  She nodded. 

“Yes.  It’s hard when it’s your own child and you know what you need to do, but because it’s your _own_ child...” 

“I know.  Where’s Jacques right now?”  Beverly smiled. 

“With Alyssa.  She offered to have him while I talked to you,”  Beverly lowered her eyes so Jean-Luc couldn’t see the tears that threatened her eyes. He noticed and tilted her head back up.

“Hey, it’ll be ok.  Jacques has the best doctor in Starfleet.”  She smiled.

“Sorry.  Can I blame the hormones?”  He grinned back.

“Only if I can.  Why don’t you test your breast milk?”  She nodded. 

“Ok. And if it _is_ a problem, we need to know....but I didn’t have a problem with Wesley. Of course, that was twenty years ago...”  She sighed and sat back behind her desk.  “Close the door and lower the  blind?  I need to pump in order to test.” 

Beverly ran the tests several times before glancing back over at Jean-Luc, who was now entertaining their son in a corner of her office.  “My milk is fine.  It has all the nutrients he needs. And _he’s_ fine.  At least from a medical point.  I guess he’s just...developing a little slower.”  She frowned. “If Jacques wasn’t my child, I’d be reassuring the parents that it’s nothing to worry about and that he will likely catch up soon...so why is it hard to convince myself of it?”  He grinned up at his wife.

“Because he’s your child.  Do you remember the first time Wesley was sick?” Jean-Luc placed Jacques back in his playpen and rose to wrap an arm around Beverly.  She leaned back against him.  “You called the Stargazer in a panic.” 

“You, Jack, and Walker talked me down...and you were right.  Wes was fine in a few days, like my diagnosis had said.”  She sighed.  “You’re right.  He’ll be fine.”  Beverly rested her hand across her growing belly.  “And this one will, too.”  Jean-Luc turned her around and kissed her softly.

“Let’s go home. We’ll feed Jacques and put him to bed and then you and I have a date with our sofa.”  She smiled.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

###

Beverly decided to return to full-time maternity leave when she was seven months pregnant, but she wanted to give birth on the ship, so Jean-Luc submitted their sabbatical paperwork to begin one month after the baby was born. Jacques was eight months old, but still not developed as far as he should be, but Beverly wasn’t going to worry about it.  She knew there was nothing medically wrong, and she was sure he would start to catch up.  Beverly rested her hand on her round belly and wondered what life would be like with two babies....but she knew she would have Jean-Luc right beside her.  Another good reason to go on sabbatical. No ship’s business to interrupt.  Not that Jean-Luc hadn’t been amazing so far with Jacques, but she knew it had been hard for Jean-Luc to stay away from the bridge.  Beverly finished prepping her office for Doctor Selar to temporarily serve as CMO – a position Beverly was sure would lead to Selar eventually leaving to take up a CMO position permanently – and picked up a few of her personal belongings.  With a call over to Alyssa to please take care of her plants, Beverly walked out of her Sickbay.  She’d be back sporadically until her leave began, and of course she planned on having the baby in Sickbay, but she would do her best to not meddle. 

###

Jean-Luc glanced around his ready room as he settled behind his desk for one of the last times until their return to the ship an eyed Will Riker.

“And you’re _sure_ you don’t want me to remove my personal items from the room?” 

“No, Sir. You’ll be back. I’m just keeping your seat warm. I’m sorry, Sir, was that presumptuous of me?”  Jean-Luc grinned.

“Not at all.  Naturally, my recommendation is for you to temporarily assume Command.  You’ve been doing a fine job the past  few months filling in for me, and I see no reason why you can’t  continue while I’m away. Of course, it will depend on command agreeing.”

“Of course, Sir.  And, thank you.”

“You’ve earned it, Number One.  I have no doubt that after I return, you’ll be offered a ship of your own.” 

“Honestly, Sir, I’m happy where I am.”  Jean-Luc smiled.  The crew really were like family to all of them. 

“Well, we shall see, Number One. We shall see.”


End file.
